http://www.experienceworks.org/primetime/Primetime2001/winners/SouthCarolina.html
Prime Time Awards Program 2001
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SOUTH CAROLINA |
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Service to six generations of one family.
Ollie Stukes started cutting and styling hair 76 years ago, and he's still going strong in the same location where he began his career in 1925. Mr. Stukes prefers using clippers to cut hair, the tool of choice when he first became a barber. He still cuts the hair of his close friend, Fred Chewing, 96 years old, who was one of his first customers. He also has the distinction of cutting the hair of six generations of one family. Even after moving out of state, they returned to Manning with their two-year old daughter, so Mr. Stukes could do her first haircut.
After graduating from barber school in North Carolina, Mr. Stukes returned to his home in Manning, South Carolina to continue a career he had wanted to pursue since the age of 15. "When I first began cutting hair, our shop provided many services," he recalls. "We had hot showers all day on Saturday for country folks who had no hot water. Shoe shines were also available, and you always got 'brushed off' proper."
Considered a 'dean' of his profession, Mr. Stukes has served two terms of service as a member of the South Carolina Barber Board. In 1995, he was named Clarendon County's Businessman of the Year and was honored by the South Carolina Legislature with a Concurrent Resolution.
Active in the First Baptist Church of Manning, he has served as a deacon for over 40 years. His personal goals are "to be encouraging to those I see each day, keep my good health, support my church, and enjoy my child, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren."