World War II ribbons hung in the small barber shop on the eastside of Dallas. Haircuts were cheap and came in one style. Everyone knew the man behind the chair.
Cecil Jenkins at Jenkins Barber Shop was the go-to man when it came time for a trim.
He died in a car wreck Friday on Philadelphia Church Road. He was 89 years old and undergoing his second bout with cancer.
For many Dallas residents Cecil Jenkins was the one who gave their first haircut, accompanied by a certificate to mark the occasion.
Donnie Davis was one of Jenkins’ loyal customers. Jenkins cut Davis’ hair from the time he was 4 years old until the day he left Dallas to join the Air Force at 23.
“Me and my brothers and probably every other little boy in Dallas went to him,” Davis said. “There wasn’t anybody finer than Cecil Jenkins. He just had that reputation in town.”
Jenkins started the barber shop around 1947 after his service in World War II. He was in the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving in China, Burma and India.
When he returned to Dallas, he attended barber school and set up Jenkins Barber Shop. For the next 53 years, that’s where he would spend his days.
Jo Ann Ashe, Jenkin’s daughter, said her father was a hard worker.
“His idea of a semiretirement was cutting down to 10 hours a day from 12,” she said.
Even in the 1970s when long hair was popular and not as many people were coming in for cuts, he never fell on hard times, she said.
“He just worked hard, saved his money and made sure we never wanted for anything,” she said. “He put all three children through college, too.”
Jenkins wasn’t just generous to his children. Many times, Ashe can remember her father not charging for a haircut if the customer couldn’t afford it.
“He’d say, ‘Pay me later,’” she said. “Sometimes they’d come back. Sometimes they wouldn’t, but I don’t think he cared.”
Jenkins also went to nursing homes, hospitals or the homes of homebound customers to offer his services. They’d call and he’d go right out, never charging a dime, his daughter said.
In 2000, Jenkins sold out to his part-time barber and friend, Allen Huggins. Today, the shop is known as Huggins Barber Shop.
There was more to Jenkins than haircuts, however. He was a leader in the Dallas Masonic Lodge and a lifelong member of Long Creek Baptist Church.
Jenkins was at church every day the doors were open, Ashe said. Davis remembers him as his Sunday school teacher.
Even when he was diagnosed with lymphoma and was receiving chemotherapy, Jenkins never faulted on his perfect attendance.
When he died, Jenkins was also a grand master at the Dallas Masonic Lodge and the oldest member. The youngest member was none other than his own grandson, 25-year-old Patrick Ashe.
It was rare for Jenkins to miss a meeting at the lodge either, said Huggins, also a Mason.
“Even when he was getting chemo and bald-headed and couldn’t put one foot in front of another, he’d be there,” Huggins said.
Ashe said that’s just the way her father lived his life.
“He was very devoted in whatever he did,” she said.
You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/lbaheri.