NORWAY – Nineteen years ago, 10-year-old Michelle Gordon was fascinated by hairstylist Nancy Weymouth.

She would visit Nancy’s Family Hairstyling in Norway after school, on Saturdays and during summer vacation.

“I’d help out folding towels, taking papers off perms and doing the little stuff I could do legally,” Michelle said. “It was very inspirational.”

She was determined to be a stylist.

Two weeks after graduation from Oxford Hills High School in 1992, she attended Mr. Bernard’s School of Hair Fashion in Lewiston. She worked in Lewiston at two salons during the next four years and then was hired to work at Nancy’s in Norway.

Gordon became Campbell in 1997 when she married her childhood sweetheart Randy Campbell.

And in 2004, Campbell will achieve two firsts – open her own shop in February and have her first child in June.

The shop will be on Paris Street, near the entrance to Wendy’s and across the street from Nancy’s salon.

Campbell said the construction crew was working on the foundation on Friday and will pour it as soon as weather permits.

The shop will be a 28- by 32-foot custom style ranch structure designed by Campbell and her husband.

“I told him what I needed and where I wanted it and he designed it,” Campbell said. “There will be no shutters or picket fences like a little country house. Just a single level with a full front porch.”

She said the salon room will be open and she will have a tanning room, nail technician room and a stylist workroom. The floors will be cherry hardwood, in part, and ceramic tile.

“Randy has wanted me to do this for years,” Campbell said. “I just decided this summer. I looked for a building in July, but nothing satisfied me.

“So we’re building our own,” she said.

Campbell said she still maintains a friendship with Weymouth, her childhood inspiration.

And soon, she will only have to walk across the street to see her.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.