Kathleen Alice Wellman, a longtime Malibu business owner and good friend to many, died Friday of complications resulting from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). She was 54 years old.
Wellman was co-owner of The Nail Box, a thriving manicure salon located in Malibu for the past 25 years.
Wellman was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on July 8, 1949, as the eldest of three children of Alice Rutherford and Renzo Simioni. She graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1967.
Wellman married her high school sweetheart, Michael Wellman, and in 1968 they settled in the Los Angeles area to raise their daughter and son. The family moved to the Malibu Canyon community of Monte Nido in 1972, where Wellman met Laura Robbins. The two became best friends and business partners. They started their manicure business in Agoura in 1975 and moved to Malibu in 1978, where their business and friendship flourished.
Wellman loved her dogs, reading, traveling, river trips and frequenting many of Southern California’s beach communities. She spent the last 22 years of her life doing these activities and building a home together with her companion, Dan Munson.
Wellman is survived by her daughter, Shari Sousa, and her granddaughter, Valerie Sousa of Calabasas, her son, Jason Wellman of Malibu, her sister, Charlene Nilsson of Santa Barbara, her brother, Kirk Simioni of Fairfield, and her mother and stepfather, Alice and John Epperson of Bokeelia, Fla.
A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8, at 1 p.m. at the Malibu Vineyard Church, located at 23825 Stuart Ranch Road.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her name to the ALS Association National Office at 27001 Agoura Road, Suite 150, Calabasas Hills, CA 91301 or to Vistas Hospice at 1630 Ventura Blvd., Suite 600, Encino, CA 91436.