Beautician used to seeing double (and triple)
When Toni Livingston was pregnant with her triplets, no one understood what was she was going through except her grandmother Gertie Rose Earnest. Her doctor told her it was her imagination when she said her hips would slide in and out of place when she got out of bed — but her grandmother knew the feeling.
“It happened to me all of the time,” Livingston, 37, recalled her grandmother telling her over the phone.
Earnest also knew what it was like to be carrying multiple babies. Her grandmother had five sets of twins among 21 children that her and husband Elisha June Earnest raised in Holly Grove, Ark., outside of Little Rock. According to family lore, the multiple births gene started with Livingston’s grandfather, who was a twin.
In addition to her 18-year-old triplets, Jalen, Antonio and Sishman Jr., Livingston’s children include 16-year-old twins, Alicia and Naomi, and her oldest daughter, Ameia, 19. She says the twins and triplets are fraternal, or nonidentical, but people who meet the children say otherwise.
Livingston’s family includes 10 sets of twins who are grandchildren and 12 sets of twins among the great-grandchildren.
“For us, it’s so normal,” Livingston said. “We think it’s cool to see a sea of family members at family reunions and see that lineage continue to grow.”
Livingston owns Prestige Beauty, located at 2947 Thousand Oaks Drive. She shared her legacy of multiples inside of the serene space at Mallorca Salon Studios that she said was inspired by her grandmother, who also owned a
beauty salon.
A master lash technician, Livingston’s services include eyelash extensions and facials for men and women. Livingston said when customers arrive, it’s a moment to put their worries away and relax, just like it was at her grandmother’s salon.
“She had the ability to make us all feel like we were her favorites,” she said.
Livingston aims to do that for her children with heartfelt notes. It was a tradition that started with her ex-husband, Sishman Rimpson, an Air Force veteran, when he was away, and the practice continued with letters to their oldest daughter.
Every time she buys her chil
dren a book, she includes a handwritten note. On Valentine’s Day and on Christmas, she writes 10 things she loves about each one of them.
“Mom, you say that to all of us,” she said her children tell her.
“Somewhere in your mind, you believe me,” is her standard reply.
Her uncle Darrell Earnest keeps track of their family tree, chronicling dates and births of the large family.
For years, they had family reunions on their grandmother’s birthday in September. Wearing the same-colored T-shirts, they would gather at a rented space over the Labor Day weekend in Little Rock. The high point of the
celebration always was a new baby to coo over.
When she was pregnant with her twins, she learned about possible family ties to an African village when an Air Force doctor, originally from Nigeria, asked about her family history.
She agreed to allow the doctor to take samples of her blood for a genealogy test.
The doctor said the African village, Igbo Ora, has been called the twins capital of the world. According to a 2019 Reuters article, a 1970s study by a British gynecologist reported about 50 sets of twins out of every 1,000 births in that area of southwest Nigeria.
The doctor also told her of a
long-held theory that yams are linked to the birth of twins, a scientifically unproven premise that fascinated him. There’s a Yoruba village in the area where multiples were in abundance and where yams grew.
The doctor said the genealogy test showed that Livingston was possibly a direct descendant of residents of the area.
“I always thought there was more information than we knew,” she said.
Livingston’s grandparents never made a big deal about their unique family.
Her grandfather, a Vietnam veteran, died in 1982, the year she was born. Livingston said her grandmother led by example in her own quiet way. She was always humble, had high standards and never drew attention to herself, traits she maintained until the day she died on July 27, 2017.
Livingston said she’s proud to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps.
“Her legacy guides me every single day in so many ways,” Livingston said. “She would say think bigger, keep growing and going. The sky is the limit.”