Macomb's Tyson Turns 90 - "Still Cutting After All These Years..."
Jerry Tyson plans to celebrate his 90th birthday Nov. 3 "the only way an old barber knows how:” by giving free haircuts at his Macomb barbershop.
This special offer keeps a promise he made publicly in 2017; however, that promise also had a second half: he would retire. Fast-forward nine years … he has changed his mind about the second part of that deal.
"The haircuts are free, but retirement is off the table," Tyson wrote in a note announcing the offer, which appears with this story, inside on page 4 "I absolutely love coming in here. It's the only reason I'm still doing it at 90.”
Tyson was born Nov. 3, 1936, and grew up on a farm near Rushville.
He was close to graduating from Rushville High School with no plan when a school counselor asked what he would do next, asking if he would farm with his father. Tyson said he would talk to his father, but farming did not interest him. The counselor then asked whether he wanted to go to college and if he had talked to his parents about it. Tyson hadn’t up to that point, but following a short conversation, his parents liked the idea and he decided to attend Western Illinois University and become an English teacher.
But there was one setback: he would have to return to high school in the fall for one more semester of math to fulfill the requirements, and he did not want to go back. That evening, Tyson got a haircut from his uncle and told him the news. His uncle asked, "Why don't you go to trade school?"
Tyson had never heard of a trade school, so his uncle suggested barbering and gave him the address of the licensing board from his own barber license. Tyson wrote a letter, received a response and with that, he enrolled at Central Illinois Barber College in Decatur. At the time, barbers trained one year in school and three years as apprentices.
In the meantime, his brother, Harold, had come home from Korea and planned to attend college on the GI Bill. Tyson told Harold about barber college while the two were milking cows. A couple of days later, the brothers drove to Decatur and enrolled together. The brothers planned to finish their apprenticeships and open Tyson Brothers Barber Shop. But a master barber could take only one apprentice, so Harold went to Beardstown and Jerry stayed in Rushville. Within a few years, both had steady business, and both had married and started families.
"And so we just never got together," Tyson said.
Tyson started cutting hair in August 1955 and a business in Rushville. Harold barbered in Beardstown until he was 93 and died just this year at the age of 96.
Tyson moved to Macomb in 1982. "Macomb has absolutely been wonderful to me," he said.
He bought the lease on a space that had housed Bev's Boutique and redecorated it. The timing of this story and his opening could not be better as Tyson opened on WIU's Homecoming weekend in 1983. One of his early newspaper ads lists the opening as Monday, Oct. 18, 1983, at 8:30 a.m.
On the Saturday of that homecoming, Tyson was getting the shop ready when he stepped outside and saw the WIU Marching Band going by. His friend, the late Dale Hopper, who was the director of the Marching Leathernecks, waved and called out, "I'll see you first thing Monday morning."
This year, WIU's Homecoming comes ahead of his birthday. Tyson is still cutting hair in the same shop. To announce the shop in 1983, Tyson ran a series of ads over six weeks. The ads showed men in turn-of-the-century sweats, running, under questions like "Who are they?" and "Where are they going?" The final ad gave the answer: a barbershop in Macomb.
Jerry's haircuts are just not another haircut at just any barber as he still cuts mostly with scissors. A haircut takes at least 30 minutes (and longer if the conversation is interesting, which it usually is). He wraps each customer's neck with a towel and a neck strip, uses a vacuum to clear loose hair, offers a neck shave to clients who want one, and finishes with a hot towel and a massager.
The shop looks like the library or study of a turn of the century home, cozy and inviting, with soft jazz music playing. The walls hold a wealth of local history, both Tyson’s and of the area.
A silhouette of Alexander Macomb came from Paul Blackford, a WIU English professor and customer. Tyson said he had seen the image at the Smithsonian and mentioned it during a haircut. A year later, Blackford walked in with a copy.
A print Tyson found in LaHarpe shows an old barbershop and three gentlemen outside. Tyson said an elderly customer once spotted it on the wall and recognized the shop where he got his hair cut as a boy. It turned out the shop was not in LaHarpe, but in Macomb and stood across the street, on North Lafayette Street, where a bookstore was last located before the Chandler block fire. Kenny Epperson told Tyson he had more books than he knew what to do with and needed another shelf, so Epperson built him one. A large table tray came from Istanbul. A Shakespeare piece came from Stratford-on-Avon.
Tyson has built lifelong relationships by taking part in several Macomb organizations. He has chaired the Performing Arts Society wine-tasting fundraiser for seven years. He served on the Two Rivers Arts Council, helped with the Tour of Homes and served one term on the county board, just to name a few.
The hardest part of being a barber, he said, has been keeping up with changing styles and building the business. The reward has been the customers.
"That's the story," he said of the people he has met.
Asked whether he would choose barbering again, Tyson repeated what he once said in a talk on the history of the trade: "If I had my life to live over, I'd still be a barber. It's been a wonderful occupation for me." Tyson asks customers to call ahead for an appointment at 309-837-3877.
