| Sources |
- [S25] Smith Mortuary Company, www.smithmortuary.com, 4 Dec 2008.
Dorothy Lynn Graves Beasley obituary
- [S27] The Daily Times, http://www.thedailytimes.com/, (Blount County, Tennessee), 6 Apr 2013.
Last of the loafers: Friendsville barber Keith Graves retires after 51 years
by Rheta Murry | (rhetam@thedailytimes.com)
It’s now quiet in Keith’s Barber Shop. The combs, scissors and shavers no longer sit on the counter behind the antique barbershop chair. No “loafers” sit on the benches, telling tall tales.
Instead, Keith Graves, 69, looks a little lost as he sifts through memories disguised as furniture and other barber tools last week in Friendsville. After several months of sickness and hospitalization, he decided to retire.
“I hate to retire, because I had so many friends and customers,” Graves said. “I am going to miss them, and I hope they miss me.”
He started a career 51 years ago in the barber shop, first shining shoes for about six years, with clients sitting in a wooden shoe shine chair in the corner of George Painter’s barbershop.
“Standing there watching George Painter, I just thought, ‘That is what I want to be,’” Graves said. “He gave me a chance. He was a good man.” Graves started in 1962, and Painter died in 1967, essentially leaving Graves with the shop.
The loafers
Like a lot of barber shops of old, Keith’s Barber Shop was the hangout for men Graves referred to as “the loafers.”
“I enjoyed them,” Graves said of his friends. “You learn a lot. It may not all be true, but you learn a lot.”
On more than one occasion, people driving by would think the 8 to 10 men sitting in the shop were waiting for haircuts. Graves recalls a time when a man from Tellico Village entered the shop, requesting a haircut. When Graves finished with the man in the antique barber chair, he pulled off the black cape and invited the out-of-towner to sit down. The man thought he would have to wait on all the loafers before he got a turn in the chair, and expressed surprise when finding out he was next in line.
The loafers brought color to the barber shop. He mentioned John West, Gene Hamil, Sam Rader and Don ”Bullet” Lingenfelter as those who hung around the most. Davis referred to Bud Rogers as the biggest loafer in town.
“He could tell some tales,” Graves said. “He would start a story with, ‘If I’m lying, I don’t mean to.’”
Lingenfelter was probably his last loafer, Graves added.
His motto
The Tri-City Barber College graduate said he cut about 35 heads of hair a day. And, he thinks he’s cut hair for five generations in some families — such as the Stinnetts and Palmers, for starters. As hairstyles and hair lengths changed, Graves said he disliked the long-hair phase the most.
“I never did like to cut it. I didn’t really know what I was doing but I took my time and tried to do a good job,” he said.
That’s about the time he developed his motto for his long-time career. Graves recalls a young man who came into his shop and told him exactly how he wanted his hair cut, and the length.
Graves told the customer that he does two types of hair cuts, “the kind you like, and the kind you don’t like,” he said.
Graves and his wife, Patricia, have been married nearly 49 years, almost as long as his barbering career. The couple have two daughters, Keytha Lynn Graves and Angie Wade.
As Graves prepares for his retirement, he looks around the room that had been his workplace and social location. And he looks sad.
“I’d like to thank my customers and friends,” he said. “I’m really going to miss them.”
On a more positive note, Graves knows where to find his buddies, and he plans to visit.
“Carroll Huffstetler has a shop next to his house, where he works on lawn mowers and stuff,” Graves said. “Nearly all the loafers hang out over there.”
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name: Raymond Graves
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Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 23 Aug 1930
Event Place: Blount, Tennessee, United States
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Spouse's Name: Daisy Finger
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Reference ID: see next images
GS Film number: 2073672
Digital Folder Number: 004646466
Image Number: 00630
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Abt 1944 - (~ 80 years)
(Age 76 years)