I needed a haircut. Badly.

Dick Owens

I did and had a memorable time getting more than “a little off the sides” and learning about another piece of Webster City history. His father-in-law was Richard “Dick” Owens, another Webster City barber who was also a vet, a former commander of the American Legion Post here in town, and a “great guy.”

That is a title I consider top of the heap, though a bit hard to clearly define.

Dick Owens was born in October of 1929 and graduated from high school in Garden Grove. Following a time in the Army, he married Mildred Ione Beavers in Leon and the couple moved to Webster City where Dick began working for Franklin Manufacturing.

Not much later, Dick attended the Iowa Barber School in Des Moines and began his new trade in 1955, working with John Wilson, who had been barbering since 1920. The two worked well together and, in 1962, Dick bought Wilson’s interest in the business and opened a new shop, at 728 Second Street in Webster City.

The Owens Barber Shop was a busy place and Dick had many others who helped, and learned the trade, at that location.

In June of 1968, Dick was named as commander of the American Legion Post here in Webster City and served well in that position.

Dick and Ione raised two daughters; one, Beth, married Russ Chelesvig in 1984. Russ spent several years farming before he, too, joined Dick as a barber in 2002.

When Owens retired from business in 2004, Russ took over and moved the business to its present location.

Dick was known to say, happily, that he “gave Russ the business and his daughter.” Owens had been cutting hair for three months shy of 50 years when he retired. He became a resident in “Our Neighborhood” in September of 2014 and Ione followed him about a year later.

The barber chair I sat in to get my own haircut was first purchased by Dick Owens in 1955 when he joined John Wilson; it was the same year I was born.

I like that.

Learning Webster City history, and the people who built and sustain this place is a real joy for me. It never gets dull or boring. From Russ Chelesvig back through Dick Owens to John Wilson, I enjoyed hearing about more than 100 years of “hair-raising history” and walked out looking like a new man — well, a cleaned up one anyway.

While I was getting “a little off the top” (at my age that’s about all there is), Russ brought out a license plate topper advertising Kistner’s Automotive Electric.

I’d like to challenge folks reading this to send me anything you know about the former business. I think it just might make an interesting story …

Our Neighborhood is a column by Michael Eckers focusing on the men and women whose presence populates Graceland Cemetery in Webster City.