Familiar Face - Sunshine at Classic Looks Salon

Her name is simply Sunshine – and she totally exudes it. Sunshine provides manicures, pedicures and facials at Classic Looks in Niwot and is this week's Familiar Face. The owner of Classic Looks, Sheri Sutton, met and hired Sunshine in 2005, when Sunshine first moved to Colorado, and they have been together ever since.

"Classic Looks is like my second family," Sunshine explained one recent day, sitting in the salon in Cottonwood Square. "I just love, love this place," she added with a smile. "Clients and co-workers, I just love everybody. So friendly, so caring, so kind."

Sunshine lives up to her name. But her story is convoluted and remarkable. Her parents escaped Communist China during the Cold War and then, having landed in South Vietnam, and having seven children in the family, including Sunshine, the family eventually fled to America during the Vietnam War.

"My mother died when I was two," Sunshine explained. Her father raised her and her six siblings alone. They managed to escape Vietnam during the war and first landed in Carson City, Nevada, in 1979. Three of her brothers came to the U.S. first. "They worked day and night in Nevada to save money to be able to bring the rest of us to America," Sunshine explained.

When Sunshine was a teenager, her father died, yet the remaining three brothers managed to immigrate to Nevada. "They worked like dogs to save some money," she said. The brothers already here eventually brought the rest of the family to America and settled in Sacramento, California.

"California was bigger than Nevada and had more opportunities for education," Sunshine recalled. In California, during the summer between her sophomore and junior years in high school, Sunshine went to beauty school. She learned about facials, manicures and pedicures and has been doing them ever since. Her teacher that summer re-named her "Sunshine." And she has been using that name ever since.

Now living in southwest Longmont with her husband, an employee at Seagate, the couple are parents of a 32-year-old son, who is a pharmacist in California and a graduate of CU Boulder, and a 22-year-old daughter, who also lives in California and also graduated from CU.

"I'm so grateful our kids finished school because I didn't, and that has been a dream," Sunshine said.

"When I came here to the USA at age 16, I did not know one word of English except 'hello' and 'thank you' and I always confused 'no' and 'know,'" she recalled.

"I went to high school for four years in Sacramento and one semester in community college and then I quit school to work. I've worked ever since. And I say to my kids and others to appreciate what you have. I always have encouraged my kids. We came here for a better life, better work, and I'm so grateful that our kids are successful."

Two long-time clients of Sunshine are Bernie and Leona Stoecker. Bernie is a retired United Airlines pilot and Leona, also now retired, was the first woman elected as mayor of Longmont, serving from 1993 until 2001.

Asked about Sunshine, Leona said, "I just love her demeanor. She makes you feel very comfortable. I had a broken arm and I would sit in her massage chair, and her kindness – I'm just very impressed." Leona said both she and her husband have been clients for many years and first discovered Sunshine through their minister's wife. "Bernie had a toe that hurt and he needed someone to clip his nails," the former mayor added with a smile. "And we lucked out to find Sunshine."

Sunshine never stops being happy and grateful to live in Colorado and work in Niwot. She said, "I can remember as a little girl, living in a village in South Vietnam, hearing bombing every night and every night we would have to go down into a tunnel."

"And now," Sunshine said with a huge smile on her face, "We are here in Niwot – happy and safe."