ROCKVILLE, Ind. (AP) - The walls are largely bare and the barber chair often empty, but Bob Rusk is back at work cutting hair.
The chair was easy to replace after a late February fire destroyed Rusk’s barbershop, the only one in Parke County. He found a used one in Kokomo. But some things that set his shop apart may prove irreplaceable.
“I’ve had guys come in here and say, ’This just doesn’t look like you; you need to kill some deer, catch some fish, get a turkey,” Rusk said inside his shop’s new location at 109 N. Virginia Street.
But the fishing and hunting trophies that adorned Rusk’s previous location at U.S. highways 36 and 41 were destroyed in the fire.
“That was my man cave; everything I had in there was a lifetime of collecting,” he said.
Rusk’s first day at his new shop came on his 69th birthday. After a month with no income, and a few months after his second expensive illness in two years, the folksy, wisecracking tonsorial artist needed to get back on the job. There was no time for fishing or hunting - never mind that it wasn’t hunting season.
Some local beauticians offered Rusk a place in their shops before the fire stopped smoldering but he declined.
“There’s a lot of beauty shops, but I cut hair; I can’t make ’em beautiful,” he said dryly.
Friends, customers and perfect strangers from Rockville and beyond came to Rusk’s assistance after news of the fire spread.
John Pezan and his son, Nick, were among dozens of donors to a gofundme.com site set up for Rusk.
“Bob and I go back a long time and I just wanted to help him out,” said John Pezan. “Bob’s just a good guy. I’ve seen him fishing a bunch of times. I would hope somebody would help me.
“Bob’s cut my hair ever since I was 10 when we moved here,” Nick Pezan said. “I knew he’d lost everything he had. I knew that was his livelihood so I did what I could to help him out. Every time you go in there he’s got stories to tell about hunting or fishing. He’s interesting.”
A long-time friend who now lives in Texas sent a check and two barbers from Fort Wayne helped with some tools of the trade. One showed up at Rusk’s door a week after the fire to personally deliver some hair clippers while a female barber from the northeastern Indiana city called and the two made arrangements to meet in Indianapolis for her to provide a box full of supplies.
“When people . that you know, and some you don’t know, contribute, it just opens your eyes,” Rusk said. “I can’t say thank you enough. It makes you want to help out other people.”
But a barbershop is a business and Rusk’s shop is proof that once a customer leaves, no matter the reason, it’s difficult to get them back.
“Business is very slow - probably half to a third of normal,” Rusk said.
“I imagine a lot of guys got to going somewhere else,” he said, with a nod toward those beauty shops that offered to take him in.
But remember, Rusk doesn’t make people beautiful.
“I can’t work miracles,” he quipped.
“A lot of people don’t know where I am,” he said.
Rusk, who doesn’t use a computer, placed ads in local newspapers and posted notices on community bulletin boards announcing his new location in a building off the Rockville square that was once an ice house. His daughter and others have spread the word on Facebook.
He said it feels “real good” to have his own place again.
He says he’ll continue to work as a barber “until they throw dirt in my face.”
The Feb. 25 fire that destroyed Rusk’s barbershop also destroyed C & K Liquors. Marla Miner, the owner of that business, could not be reached for comment but the Keymark Company of Terre Haute has started work on a new building for that business.
Just as Rusk is Rockville’s only barber, C & K is the town’s only liquor store, said Jacob Hellmann, president of Keymark.
“You’ve got two local businesses staying in Rockville,” Hellmann said, noting construction of the liquor store is scheduled for completion by Sept. 1.
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Source: (Terre Haute) Tribune-Star, https://bit.ly/2rBT3LE
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Information from: Tribune-Star, https://www.tribstar.com
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