ART, ANIMALS KEEP HER BUSY.

Byline: BETTIE RENCORET Senior columnist

LANCASTER - Sue Hamlin is a talented artist, an accomplished hairdresser and a rescuer of abandoned animals.

She's passionate about all three even though she no longer operates her own beauty salon.

On any Tuesday she can be found at the Antelope Valley Senior Center having fun painting or teaching others the techniques she's spent many years learning herself.

On Thursdays she's out at Mayflower Gardens working with seniors there.

Born Susan Marion in Topeka, Kansas, she quit high school at the age of 17 in 1942 and married a young Fifteenth Air Force cryptographer named Jack Meininger. When he returned from Europe, they made their home for a time in St. Louis, Mo., with their son Mark.

In 1955 they came to California, where Meininger became a part of the family business, Meininger Brothers Paint Co. He became a licensed building contractor and remained in that occupation until he died one week after their 24th wedding anniversary, on Dec. 14, 1966.

Hamlin finally got her high school diploma at age 32, then went to a Van Nuys beautician school.

Soon after that she opened her own salon, called Misty Coiffures.

``My first shop was on Balboa Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard in Van Nuys,'' she said. ``Then I made a series of moves - to Lindley Avenue, then to Reseda Boulevard and Saticoy and finally to Saticoy and Tampa. I operated Misty's for about 13 years.''

In 1969, she married Jack Hamlin, a millwright for General Motors, and gained another a stepson and two stepdaughters.

``Jack wanted me to retire way back when, but I knew I couldn't do that and have nothing to do,'' she said. ``He encouraged me to start painting, so I did, in 1972. I loved to paint but I knew I needed some instruction so I enrolled at Renee's Studio in Granada Hills.''

Then she took a semester in art at Pierce College.

``When I began to accumulate some pretty good paintings,'' she said, ``I took them down to Misty's and hung them all over the place. I was amazed. I began selling them for $200 apiece right off the walls.''

She began rescuing animals while living in a rural area and becoming appalled at the way unfeeling people would take their cats and dogs out and just dump them off.

``I made Jack, who isn't much of an animal lover, build me some wire fenced runs and I'd take them all in. You'd be surprised at the beautiful dogs that get abandoned and left to predators in the wild.''

She despises animal dumping.

``If the people that do that only knew what happens to their unwanted animals, they wouldn't dump them. Then again, probably some of them would. It would be a lot better to take them to the county animal shelter. They'd have a chance for adoption by a good home from there. Even if they weren't, and had to be put to sleep, it would at least be humane.''

While Sue is busy with her painting, she has always had additional outlets to keep her busy.

``I used to create and sell ceramics,'' she said. ``I still have my kiln and materials in case I ever want to get back into doing that.'' She also makes up basket floral arrangements to take to people who are sick, and she collects angels.

``I believe in angels and I love them,'' she said.

Hamlin is an advocate for seniors keeping busy with interesting activities.

``The best thing anyone can do when they're coming down from retirement is to get into something like painting or crafts or something like that because it's not only relaxing but gives life a continued purpose,'' she said.

She said Jack once called attention to the fact that she is never really satisfied with her work and she had to agree that is so.

``The day I get satisfied is the day I'll be through!`` she said.

Hamlin said of her teaching that she can't help wanting everybody else to enjoy what they do as much as she does. That's what she tries to impart to her students.

``I guess I'll be painting until I absolutely have to put that brush down. I may be painting on my back like Michelangelo, but that's the way I'll probably go out,'' she laughed.

Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and South Valley have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk for a suggested donation of $2.

Monday: Hearty beef stew, corn Niblets, marinated beets, grape juice, pears.

Tuesday: Barbecued pork or fish fillet, au gratin potatoes, green beans, creamy coleslaw, juice, banana.

Wednesday: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, cooked cabbage, carrot, raisin, pineapple salad, cheesecake.

Thursday: Spaghetti and meatballs, mixed vegetables, tossed salad, apple juice, vanilla ice cream.

Friday: Oven-fried chicken, baked potato, winter squash, marinated salad, gelatin with fruit.

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Sue Hamlin was encouraged by her husband, Jack, to take up painting in 1972, and is now a professional artist who loves it so much she teaches it to others.

Bettie Rencoret/Special to the Daily News