Ronald Ross
may be almost 70 years old, but he has no plans on retiring from his
50-year career as a barber. When
Ron and his wife Gertrude married in June of 1960 and moved into their
current home in Hanmer, little did they expect that 45 years later they
would still be serving their loyal customers out of the very same room in
their original home. Even more amazing is the fact that Ron is
severely hearing impaired. Ron lost his hearing when he was around 5 years
of age and has a mere 16% of a normal hearing level. Yet, despite this
impairment, it hasn’t deterred him from a career he loves – a career
which includes a great deal of conversation with customers.
At
the age of 14, Ron went to College of the Deaf in
Montreal
for 5 years, graduated and went
off to the
Moreau
Barber
School
in
Montreal
. When he finished the Barber
school, at the age of nineteen, he started his business out of his
dad's home on
December 20, 1955
and remained there for five
years. After marrying Gertrude, they moved into their home on Hwy 69 N. in
Hanmer and Ronald’s Barber Shop has continued to this day.
Three
children were raised in the Ross household. Dan, Francine and Suzanne were
all able to walk up the street to Ecole Notre Dame and then eventually to
Ecole Secondaire Hanmer. Their father, Ronald, was always able to be at
home for them while he operated his business. According to Dan, “It was
great! My dad would do a lot of the cooking and household duties during
the day while my mother worked and whenever customers came into the shop
they would press a button that caused the lights to go off briefly. When
that happened, dad would go to the shop and give a haircut. It was a great
way to grow up.”
Claude
Chenier, owner of Valley Plaza Barber Shop in the Hanmer Valley Shopping
Centre, recalls his early days as a barber working for his Uncle Ron. “I
came out of college and spent the first year and a half working for him at
Ron’s Barber Shop. Then I came over here and have been here ever since.
I’m now beginning my 24th year in this career and I expect to
have a story for you to print 26 years from now too.”
Many
residents will recall that Joe Ross, Ron’s father, was Mayor of Hanmer
for a couple of years prior to Ray Plourde.
We
congratulate Ronald and Gertrude on a lifetime of contributions to this
community. The Ross’ are
definitely people to whom we can turn for inspiration and motivation as we
continue to make Valley East a place to grow. As for Ronald, he plans on
continuing to practice his profession as a barber for as long as his
health holds out.
