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 Gene Barber (left) and Roy Woodard were inseparable partners at Southside Barber Shop from 1967 until Gene's death this past January. Southside Barber Shop still cuts it in building where it started in 1958 GARY RIDOUT recently interviewed ROY WOODARD, a fixture at Smithfield's Southside Barber Shop since 1967. Here's the transcript of Gary's interview: Leroy Allen was the first barber in Southside Barber Shop. This shop was built to be a barber shop and has never been anything else since Mr. Allen started the shop in 1958. He hired Gene Barber in 1965. Barber School in Durham was a real experience. There were four of us that traveled together to Durham: my brother Harold, a man from Goldsboro named Leslie Potts, Gene Barber, and me. We would meet in Smithfield and one of us would drive for a week each month. At that time, there was a two-lane road from Smithfield to Raleigh. From Raleigh to Durham was a four-lane road. Barber School was eight months long. It started in October of 1963 and ended in May of 1964 and was held six days a week, Monday through Saturday. We did have Wednesday afternoon off each week. After Barber School I worked at Town and Country Barber Shop on Market Street. This shop was directly across from Belk’s in Smithfield. It was where the Diner is now. I was at Town and Country Barber Shop from 1964 to 1967. Gene Barber called me in 1967 and told me about a need for a barber at Southside Barber Shop. That started our 53-year partnership in the hair-cutting business. When I first came to Southside, Williams Bakery was directly across the street. It was in the building that Webster’s Tax Service is in now. They sold delicious doughnuts and cinnamon swirls. It was like everything in the shop cost 20 cents: coffee, doughnuts, cinnamon swirls. They were good. At lunch, the bakery turned into a grill and sold hamburgers and hot dogs.... My family has grown up in the church. My son Les has always loved music. He has also been very active in church youth groups. When he was a child, he would sit in his little red rocking chair and watch "HeeHaw" on television. He just loved the pickin’ and grinnin’. He went to East Carolina University to get his music degree. After two years, though, he said he decided to go into church ministry. He transferred to Lee College in Cleveland, Tennessee. That is the national headquarters for the Church of God. He is now the senior pastor at the Rincon Church of God. Rincon is a small town about 25 miles from Savannah, Georgia. My daughter April is also in a helping profession. She is a laboratory technician in Goldsboro. My wife Diane was a hairdresser and has always been very supportive of my career at Southside Barber Shop. Eleven years ago in 2010, the doctors told her: "Mrs. Woodard, you have multiple myeloma, which is bone cancer. The average life expectancy for someone with this disease is 18 months." I told her to forget her job as a hairdresser and just concentrate on taking treatments and getting well. She went through stem-cell transplants and other cancer treatments that caused tremendous stress on her body. My strong belief in God and my wife’s even stronger belief has pulled us through this experience. You have to believe in a higher power. My wife told them at the outset: "I am not going through all these medical procedures and not live but a year and a half; I am going to live longer than that." We feel that our faith has brought us through this thing. Over the last 10 years she has spoken with many cancer victims and helped give them hope. She has been a blessing to them. Many people admire her and I am blessed to be her husband. My career as a barber has been wonderful. I have not cut the hair of a great many famous people, but to me all my customers are famous. They are all helping me make a living! I appreciate them all. Some I like better than others and I am sure some didn’t like me too much... but they like my haircuts. So they come to see me. Dealing with people --- that’s life. I did cut some green hair one time in the late Sixties. The customer was Mike Stevens who is with Stevens Sausage Company down Brogden Road. He was 13 years old and had been swimming at the Family Pool all summer. The chlorine in the pool had turned his blonde hair green. I had green hair on the barber shop floor to sweep up! Rick Hester, Johnston County manager, had this to say about Southside Barber Shop: "I have been a customer at Southside for 32 years. I always enjoy my haircuts and time with Roy. We always talk about our faith, our families, and life in general. I miss seeing Gene. He was such a kind man. He and I always enjoyed talking about having the same birthday (September 19)."  Another
customer is Dr. Willie Smith, veterinarian at
Willowrun Veterinary Hospital in Smithfield.
Willie sent me pictures of his sons getting a
haircut when they were small. (Pictured
here is Kevin Smith sitting on mother
Carol's lap as Roy gives him a haircut.)As you know, Southside Barber Shop is just a small part of a much larger building here on Third Street. In 1999, the owner of the entire building, Shelton Johnson, sold the building to Gene and me. There are five sections in the building. Over the years there have been many stores in the different sections of the building, including Max Creech’s Insurance Agency, a typewriter-repair store, a laundry, and a small grocery store. Currently, the building houses the Johnston County Board of Elections, the Red Cross, and Southside Barber Shop.  This
past January, Gene Barber passed away. Losing
Gene (pictured at left cutting a toddler's
hair) for me was like losing a partner
in life. Gene was great about remembering
names. Gene was the one who remembered all our
customers' names. He was the great
public-relations man for Southside Barber
Shop.Just knowing he is gone is hard, kind of like a kick in the gut. Every now and then I say to myself: "I need to tell Gene about this idea I just had. I need to get his opinion." Then I realize I can’t. We bought this building together and if we spent money on the building, we talked it over and came to an agreement. Now, whatever has to be done, I have to do it. The future of Southside Barber Shop is very bright. People have been getting their hair cut in this shop for 63 years and I see happy folks coming and going every day. I will continue to work as long as I can do a good job for the customers. I may cut back on my hours some, but Ricky Edwards has come to work with me in the last few weeks. He is very talented and has done a fantastic job. I was fortunate to be able to find him and he will help keep things going at Southside Barber Shop. |
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