Dick Rowe, 88, of Creswell, will be hanging up his shears in July, after cutting hair for over 60 years in the area. He is the barber at Dick Rowe’s Clip, Snip & Style at 135 E. Oregon Ave. ERIN TIERNEY/THE CRESWELL CHRONICLE
After 66 years of trimming, buzzing and sprucing up hair, Dick Rowe, 88, of Creswell, will be closing up Dick Rowe’s Clip, Snip & Style at 135 E. Oregon Ave. come the end of July.
A lifelong Oregonian, Rowe started his Creswell barber shop in 1969, but has been cutting hair in the greater Eugene area since 1954.
Rowe joined the United States Navy in 1948 when he was just 18 years old. He spent four years serving before being released in 1952.
In 2017, The Chronicle featured Rowe as he was selected to partake in an Honor Flight, where United States military veterans are flown to Washington, D.C. to visit memorials of the wars in which they fought. It’s quite the honor to included in such a flight. Rowe fought in the Korean war – specifically remembering the Battle of Inchon in 1950, which was an amphibious invasion and battle that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations. The battle involved some-75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital of Seoul two weeks later.
It wouldn’t be long before he returned to the States that he found his way around some shears.
Rowe’s career path was recognized after he met his future wife, Janice, on a blind date in 1953. Janice had just graduated high school and was going to beauty school at the time. Her mother was also a beautician, and her two brothers and two half-brothers were also in the hair biz. The two kids got hitched in 1954 and will be celebrating 65 years wed in December.
After marrying into a family full of barbers and beauticians, Rowe decided to give it whirl himself.
He remembers perfecting the flattop haircut in the 1950s, learning the art of the princeton haircuts in the ’60s and is most fond of the businessman haircut, Rowe said.
His tools haven’t changed much over the years; he’s pretty much using the same kinds of clippers and shears since he first got into the game, he said.
”It’s the same old thing five days a week – haircutting, shampooing,” Rowe said. ”It’s a kind of life you get used to day-after-day.” Most of his customers have become regulars over the years. His clientele has been mostly men, as he specializes in short hair, but occasionally he’d have a woman come into the shop looking for a short cut.
”It’ll be strange to not come down here and cut hair every day,” Rowe said. ”It’ll take some getting used to because I’ve done it for so long… though I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
Rowe was also a volunteer firefighter for 27 years in Creswell with South Lane County Fire & Rescue, where he served as the captain water officer. He also served 13 years in Springfield with Eugene Springfield Fire.
So what’s in store for Rowe in the future?
He’s got a 22-foot bartender boat that he’s building himself – one of the huge boats with points at both ends that are used by the coast guard.
”It just looks like a pile of plywood right now,” Rowe said with a chuckle. He said there’s also loads of stuff to be done around his house, and that he has plenty of ways to keep himself busy, including spending time with his two daughters, Tammy Pitt and Carla Rowe of Creswell; his two granddaughters; and his two great-grandchildren – a 5-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy.
