Western Kentucky University - Talisman Yearbook (Bowling Green, KY)

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FATHER, BILLY KIRBY, and son, Todd Kirby, cut hair and chat. Their shop was located on College Street. U int iE CUTTING EDGE BECKY McCORMICK Photos by LINDA SHERWOOD Ze Barber Shop A. RED, WHITE hy. spinning barber sah marked the entrance to a small shop located at 939 College St., and just off Fountain Square in downtown Bowling Green. Although Kirby’s Barber Shop was not on West- ern’s hill, the college’s influence could be seen upon entrance. To the right, a Lady Toppers basketball poster hung on the wall. textbooks was dumped in an armchair. Both were evidence of a side of Western that reached beyond the perimeter of campus. Two barbers stopped to smile and nod as they acknowledged customers before re- turning to the business at hand—cutting hair. Todd Rhea Kirby, a Bowling Green junior, worked at the shop with his father, Billy Rhea Kirby. For some members of the Kirby family, Western hadn't been just a place to get an education; Western was a bigger part of their lives. Todd was able to strike a happy medium between a job and school, while preparing for a trade along the way. Before coming to Western, Todd went to barber school in Nashville, Tenn. “It was called Roger's School of Hair Design, and it A red backpack full of was near the SAE house on Vandy’s campus and across from the stadium. It (barber school) took nine months and I lived in an apartment five blocks from school,” Todd said. Todd had an undeclared major, but he was looking into “possibly sociology relations),” Todd said. Billy has been barbering for 30 of his 50 years—long enough for the deft movements of his psychology or PR (public hand holding both a comb and scissors to seem second nature. Billy attended Tri-City Barber School in Louisville. Then the program for a barber took only eight months or 1250 hours of training. “T always thought I was supposed to (barber), declared myself a barber in the Navy and made some money that way,” Billy said. Billy said the GI Bill he received after the Navy “got him through barber school.” Unlike his father, Todd didn’t become interested in barbering he said. “until later,” “In my junior and senior year of high school I became more like interested—began noticing appearances more,

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| MEASUR Continued from page 19 8:40 p.m. Gentry patrols campus. While cruising through Egypt parking lot, Gentry spots an illegally parked Car. As he prepares to get out of the car and write a ticket for the apparent parking violation, a young man peeps from the dark car. Realizing that it is the campus police, he sits up and rolls down his window. As he mumbles an excuse to Gentry about his parking, a girl sits up next to him and begins to straighten her shirt. Gentry takes a deep bre ath and tells the guy to park his car correctly and leave the parking lot. 8:52p.m. After calling in, Gentry leaves campus and drives to Junior Foods for a Coke. When he finishes his break, he drives to the parking lot next to Pearce-Ford Tower and begins to patrol on foot. 9:32p.m. Gentry sees a student walking toward the Univer- sity Student Center with a beer in his hand. Gentry tells the guy to empty the beer on the ground, step on the can, and throw it away. 9:54p.m. Gentry writes his fourth ticket for the night. As he gets back into the patrol car, he says, “The university police is different from city police or county law enforcement in that the university police are dealing with people who are in a college atmosphere. They (students) probably never had to be ina situation that they had to comply with traffic law before.” 10:03 p.m. Gentry gets dinner at De Vanti’s. After he orders a bacon and tomato sandwich with french fries, a smile appears on his face as he begins to talk about his wife and daughter. He tells how attractive he still finds his wife and how much he loves his only child. Shortly after, he begins to tell a story about how he had to leave for the Vietnam War before his wife found out that she was pregnant. His story is interrupted by the waitress bringing his dinner. He pauses in the midst of the story and bows his head to say grace over his food. Then he pours catsup on his fries, and continues with his story. “When I left, she wasn’t showing. And when I came back, she had had the baby and gotten her figure back. So it was like she was never pregnant, but I had pictures of her being pregnant and a beautiful daughter to prove that she was, he said withasmile. 10:47 p.m. Gentry’s dinner is interrupted by a series of police codes called over the radio. An alarm went off in the credit union office. A burglary is suspected. As he is running toward the door, he throws a handful of cash in front of the lady at the register, and leaves without waiting for his change. Less than two minutes later, he is at the entrance of the credit union office’s driveway. After five tense minutes, the dispatcher calls and says that the alarm had been set off by someone inside of the building and that it wasn’t an emergency. “Thank God,” Gentry said with obvious relief. “This job is something else. It’s hours and hours of boredom interrupted temporarily by sheer panic.” 11:05p.m. Gentry comes into headquarters to write police reports of the night’s activities. 12:03 a.m. The next shift commander comes in to relieve Gentry. A) DRAKESBORO freshmen David and Mike King wait to get their keys. Lt. Joe Gentry and a co-officer worked half an hour. ALTHOUGH he is on his break, Lt. Gentry takes time to talk to David Danger- field, a Munfordville freshman. Dangerfield was a member of Student Patrol 4A Campus Police

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most kids that age. I began looking through hair magazines and thinking it (barbering) might be fun,” Todd said. As Todd worked with customers, he looked as if barbering were fun. He joked easily with customers. Todd said he put in “about 35 hours a week at the shop in afternoons and on Saturdays.” Bully, on the other hand, worked 60 hours, seven days week. Billy did not attend Western like his son, but he was at one time connected with the college. From 1974-75, Billy served as a public safety officer for Western. Billy said he had been traveling 79 counties for 1969-74 as a state inspector of barbershops for the state Barber Board. “I decided to get off the road and I started at WKU,” Billy said. Billy heard about the job at public safety from his brother who had worked there previously. Members of the Kirby family still work for public safety. Cousins Richard Kirby was a lieutenant and Howard Kirby was a dispatcher. “I enjoy barbering. I knew when I was at Western that I was not going to continue there. I do very well (at barbering),” Billy said. Billy added that he didn’t AS PART OF a community education class, Todd attends aerobics in Diddle Arena. His father was a public safety officer for a year at Western. DURING A LULL in business, Todd and Billy talk and read. Business was slow because of the Lady Topper’s NCAA semi-finals game in Philadelphia. mean Western wasn’t a good place to work. He went on to say that he thought Western was “the greatest place in the world! We're very fortunate.” Todd said his father did not influence him in his decision to attend Western. Todd said that he decided to go to Western because he lived in Bowling Green. Billy hadn’t always worked behind the barber chairs in the shop on College Street. From 1960-68, Billy and two of his brothers worked at a barber shop located in what was Edgewood Shopping Center where West- ern’s “Egypt” parking lot is now. When Western made a lot out of the center, Billy said he didn’t bear Western any grudges. “They moved us to Western Gateway Shopping Center,” he said. Billy bought his shop on College Street after he worked for Western's department of public safety. To both Kirbys, Western has always had a part in their lives. Todd said he never considered any other school, even while in barber school near Vanderbilt. “I had always planned to attend Western.” Ucaeet weewen 112d eee — BS Barber Shop