Texas/Mexico News
| News | Sports | Business | Opinions | Columns | Entertainment |
| Science/Technology | Weather | Archives | E-mail Us |

Tuesday, May 30, 2000

78-year-old man makes the cut

Ex-salesman, pastor earns barber's diploma

Associated Press

AMARILLO - He doesn't really know how many times he drove past the school before he decided to go inside and apply, but when Mearle Swanson made up his mind last year, he made it up for good.
   He ignored his heart trouble, his shaky second marriage and the fact that at 78, he was probably way too old to be doing what he was doing. Too much time had already been lost. For 60 years he had wanted to do one thing and one thing only with his life.
   Swanson wanted to be a barber.
   Throughout his life he's been an electronics parts salesman, a piano and organ repairman, a nursing assistant, a pastor, a chaplain and a music minister in various places around Washington state and Texas.
   He's always kept himself busy, whether it was making furniture, taking pictures, playing keyboard or even sewing. But even though he's been able to roll along with whatever life's given him, he wasn't 100 percent sure that he'd make it through barber college.
   "Both of the gentlemen at the school were sure I could make it," he said.
   "Whenever I got here, burrs were all he knew how to do," said James "Bo" Simmons, West Texas Barber Styling College's owner and instructor. "We just had to teach him how to do regular haircuts. Most of them (other students) like him; he's of a different generation."
   "He's a typical barber student, only his age makes it harder for him to stand up for long periods of time," Simmons said. "He's got a sciatic nerve problem, so we just have to work with him on that. He's real good. He learned the book real fast."
   And finally got his diploma in February.
  
  

---

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

---

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND

---

  © 2000, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.