SPANISH FORK, Utah — Many sounds can be heard coming from The Fellas Barber Shop in Spanish Fork, but on Veterans Day, the sound of storytelling could be heard above the rest.
Hairdresser Annie Gage didn't just get to strike up a conversation with her client; she got to honor her grandpa.
“I've talked about him, like, five times, and I always tear up when I talk about him,” Gage said through tears.
Her grandpa was a veteran, and she uses Veterans Day as an opportunity to feel closer to him.
“I would do anything to spend time with my grandpa and talk to him and hear his stories and cut his hair,” she said. "In a way, I just feel really close to him and talking to a lot of these guys, they just remind me so much of him.”
A couple of chairs over was Wallace Barlow cutting hair, who also had someone special in mind.
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“My grandfather was in World War II, and he was a Purple Heart vet,” he said, "watched a lot of his friends die in battle and a lot of pretty deep emotional stories.”
Barlow and his father both served as well.
“I started to print out some pictures and bring them in, but I thought, well, I don't want to get too emotional, so we'll just keep it with the flags up there,” Barlow said.
It seems Veterans Day is the one day a year when barbers and veterans lean on each other for support.
“Some of them just want to come here and just sit with the barber. Others want to speak about their story, but there's actually quite a few that just don't want to talk about those,” said Jorge Garcia, who oversees operations.
One of those clients was 79-year-old Steve Barlow.
“I joined the service because I wanted to serve. I didn't want to go to Vietnam, but things happened,” he said.
Barlow sometimes just wants someone to talk to and forget about the sadness.
“A lot of the people who cut hair here are younger,” Steve said. "They're interested in what I have to say or what I'm doing or not doing, and I'm interested in what they're doing and how they came to be cutting hair and stuff, so it's just really nice dialog.”
Little does Steve know the impact his conversation has on the people holding the scissors.
“I have learned so many things about myself by hearing somebody else’s perspective,” Gage said.
“I feel like we can listen and absorb a lot of what they're feeling, so it’s much more than a haircut,” Wallace added.
It is the eighth year that The Fellas Barber Shop has offered free haircuts for veterans on Veterans Day.
