Rose Hill Barber Shop

Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2014 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

IN MEMORIAM
Roy Rankin

Local news used to travel by word of mouth and there was no better place to catch up on happenings in Franconia than Roy Rankin’s barber shop. It was first located on Franconia Road across from Ward’s Corner and then in the Rose Hill Shopping Center. Rankin’s Rose Hill Barber Shop was one of the original businesses in Rose Hill when the center opened in 1961. Previously, the Safeway store sat there by its lonesome for three years. Of the originals, only the barber shop, cleaners, beauty shop and pizza parlor remain in the same location.

Roy cut hair in Franconia from 1955 until May of this year when he passed away at age 84 from an aneurism while recovering from a broken hip. Although he had sold the shop about 20 years ago, he continued to operate the chair just inside the door every Saturday until a few weeks before he died. He knew most every male in Franconia and plenty of the parents-- both male and female -- who brought their sons to get their first haircut.

Although Roy is gone, the local history conversations continue at the Rose Hill Barber Shop. Donald (Scotty) Scott, one of Roy’s first barbers, continues to hold court and cut hair every day except Thursday. He began working at the Franconia Road shop in 1960 and moved to Rose Hill two year later.

Rankin and his wife Barbara Anne moved to Northern Virginia in the 1950s when she got a job at then Cameron Station and he began cutting hair in Shirley Duke (now Foxchase). He opened his own shop in Franconia and they moved to nearby Em Street and later to Greenleaf Street. They raised three children here, sons James and Terrance and daughter Tamara. James built the cabinets that line the walls in the Museum, including those behind glass to protect valuable artifacts.

Roy was active in community organizations and was the president of the Springfield-Franconia Lions Club. The Rankins belong to Franconia United Methodist Church.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Spring 2015 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

IN MEMORIAM
George Atsiknoudas

George Atsiknoudas’ American Dream came true right here in Franconia. He didn’t strike it rich monetarily, but he did establish friendships that spanned the globe. He spent most of his 28 years in America behind a barber’s chair at the Rose Hill Barber Shop, happily cutting hair, making friends and talking about his native Greece.

George retired in 1998, returned to Greece, and died at age 82 on March 26, 2015. Word quickly raced across the Atlantic Ocean via electronic media, triggering both sadness and good memories among George’s many friends. Only last year, Roy Rankin, the owner of Rose Hill Barber Shop, passed away. He and George were institutions with most of their customers who represented a number of generations.

George Atsiknoudas gives young Brian Langley his first hair cut at the Rose Hill Barber Shop in the early 1990s. Brian is the son of Jeff Langley, who got to know George when they both lived in the Rose Hill Apartments. Brian graduated from Edison High School in 2009 and his sister Lindsay graduated a year later. The family still lives in the area, as does grandfather Dick Langley, who lived in Rose Hill, delivered the community newsletter, the Rambler, and was an officer in the Rose Hill Civic Association. Jeff called George “a very nice man” who was a friend to all.

George is survived by his wife Polly, son Michael and daughter Marianna. Polly had returned with George to Greece while Michael and daughter Marianna remained in America. The children were ages 10 years and 18 months, respectively, when George and Polly came to America in 1970.

It all began when George and Polly came here to visit his brother Angelo, who lived in Springfield and worked in a barber shop. One thing led to another and George wound up staying here and cutting hair. It wasn’t long before Rankin invited George to join the staff at his new shop in Rose Hill. Rankin had found a home in Franconia, first opening a shop on Franconia Road across from Ward’s Corner (now the Shell Station) and then moving to Rose Hill when the new center opened.

George, Polly and the two children moved into the Rose Hill apartments and stayed there until he retired. Both children attended Rose Hill Elementary, Mark Twain and Edison High School. Michael works at Gianna’s Hair Salon in Kingstowne and Marianna is employed in health care for senior citizens.

The Atsiknoudases were active in Saint Katherine’s Greek Orthodox Church in Falls Church and had many friends in the Greek community throughout the Washington area. They were in addition to the legion of friends and customers who looked forward to visiting George at the Rose Hill Barber Shop.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2020 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

ON THE CUTTING EDGE IN FRANCONIA
By Carl Sell

Except for time in barber school and in the service with the United States Army, Donald Scott (Scotty) has been cutting hair and telling stories in Franconia for more than 60 years. He is still at it behind his chair at the Rose Hill Barber Shop. His work ethic and enthusiasm has produced a long list of customers who have become friends. Many a mom and dad took their young boys to Scotty for their first haircut, and the boys — now men — keep coming back.

Scotty is sure entitled to tell his stories after serving as a foot soldier for the United States Army in Vietnam for one and one-half years. But he would rather talk about his time in Franconia, and that’s what this story is about.

Scotty has also been a husband, father, handyman and farmer all of that time. On his days off, Scotty installed ceramic tile, tile floors and drywall in scores of Franconia homes. In his spare time during the season, he would run out to his garden on Beulah Road across from Nalls Produce to encourage growth and harvest corn, tomatoes, beans and other produce.

Scotty doesn’t talk much about it, but his combat service in Vietnam helped him to better appreciate the hometown things in life, and friends he has accumulated over the many years. Make no mistake about it, anyone who has come in contact with Scotty will never forget him.

Scotty continues to cut hair, dispense advice and give you the latest community news over your shoulder at the Rose Hill Barber Shop. His schedule has been curtailed to appearances Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but the experience is still the same, even though Scotty and all of us are a tad older.

People who got their first haircut from Scotty still come to sit in the chair. And some get their last haircut from Scotty just before their final service. Scotty never forgets his friends. Even if they have moved away from the area, he somehow knows how they are and if they are still alive. He will also tell you where they lived, who they married and what they did.

Scotty was born in Dallas, Texas, on September 3, 1944. When he was three, his parents, Millard and Gertrude, moved to Springfield, Virginia, because most of the jobs were in the nation’s capital area. His dad worked for Richfield Dairy, which became Wakefield Dairy. Later he drove a truck for Campbell Brothers, which operated in the Franconia-Springfield area.

Six more children joined the family after the move to Virginia. Richard, Millard and sister Pearl are still alive. Roy, Howard and William have passed away. Scotty’s first wife, Darlene, died in 2010.

Even though he lived on Keene Mill Road in Springfield, Scotty went to Franconia Elementary School because it was the closest school in those days. Today, there are four elementary schools, a middle school and a high school between Springfield and Franconia. After six years at Franconia, he started at old Mount Vernon High School on Route #1, before switching to the new Lee High School in Springfield.

The trip to school had become much shorter, but Scotty’s attentions were on a working career. As a nine-year-old elementary school youngster, he had started sweeping floors at Bill’s Barber Shop in Springfield, and then for Ward Plaugher, the owner of Ward’s Corner in Franconia, at the age of 12. After leaving high school, he went to work at the old Chuck Wagon Restaurant in Springfield.

A year later, Scotty decided he wanted to become a barber, and so he went to school at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Fisherville, Virginia. Many of the barbers in the Franconia area, including Roy Rankin, had gone to school there. In fact, Scotty’s first job as a barber was in Roy’s shop on Franconia Road in 1960.

The barber shop was located in a shopping area that is now the site of two banks. In those days, it was the site of Kelly’s Cleaners, a doctor’s office, a beauty shop, an insurance agency, and an auto repair shop run by Charlie True. Roy sold that barber shop to Clyde Robinson a year later and opened in the new Rose Hill Shopping Center.

The physician, Dr. Blaint Rozsa, relocated his practice a short distance west of the shopping center, to a house on what is now Villa Drive, across from Franconia Baptist Church. The following year, the shopping center of Franconia Road was torn down for potential redevelopment, and Robinson joined the staff at Rose Hill.

Scotty recalls his early customers such as Joe Simms, Shorty Marshall, Sonny Wright, Joe Sowers, Herbie Potter, Jimmy Shifflett and “Old Man Shepherd.” Another customer was “Tater” Pearson, who also played music at Ward’s Corner. Other customers included the McGuinn boys and Rex Marshall, as well as the Abbou family who lived across Rose Hill Drive from the shopping center. Scotty says the Abbou daughters still stop in to see him. Their parents moved into a nursing home earlier this year.

A young Cary Nalls, who owns and operates Nalls Produce with his wife, Sharon, and their daughter, Valerie, was another early customer. Cary’s father, Buddy Nalls, was also an early customer. Young Cary started Nalls Produce in 1961, the first year Scotty worked at Rose Hill Barber Shop.

In 1963, Scotty met and married his first wife, Darlene. Although Darlene was from Louisa, Kentucky, she was working in Maryland and knew Scotty’s brother, Roy, through Roy’s wife Jane. Scotty also vividly remembers 1963 because that’s the year President John Kennedy was shot in Dallas on November 22. Kennedy was taken to the same hospital where Scotty was born 19 years earlier.

About that time, the Vietnam War was heating up, and Scotty was drafted into the Army in December 1965. Although his classification didn’t put him in line for immediate service, he figured it would come soon. So he joined the army and was sent to Fort Hood, Kentucky. Thirteen weeks later, he found himself in combat in Vietnam. Although originally assigned to the Eleventh Armored Division when he enlisted, Scotty soon became what he calls a “ground pounder,” because there isn’t much need for tanks in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

Darlene stayed behind, living in an apartment in Springfield, and working at a number of businesses in the new Rose Hill Shopping Center, including Grants and the Alma Shop for women. A serious operation for Darlene resulted in Scotty’s recall from Vietnam a year and a half later. He was granted an early release because of the illness of his wife. They adopted a son, Douglas Edward, in 1968 as Scotty returned to his post behind the barber’s chair in Rose Hill. He also got his contractor’s license and was in demand for projects in Franconia.

One of Scotty’s customers during that time was Ed Davies, who lived on Tripplet Lane behind what is now Edison High School. Ed’s son, Joe Davies, was reported missing on a mission over Vietnam in May 1968. Joe, an Air Force captain who had been a high school football star at Annandale and later played at the University of North Carolina, was never recovered. His disappearance haunts the family and Franconia friends to this day.

On June 6 of that same year, Army Private First Class Robert W. Cupp from Franconia was killed when he stepped on a mine in Vietnam. Private Cupp was awarded a Bronze Star for exposing himself to danger and shouting a warning to his comrades. His mother, Imogene Cupp, would become national president of the Gold Star Mothers, and helped spearhead the drive that led to the Vietnam Memorial on the National Mall. Scotty recalls knowing the family.

Other Franconians killed in Vietnam were Air Force Captain Paul M. Bayliss in November 1966, Army Corporal Charles H. Elliott in August of 1968, Air Force Captain Gerald W. Plunkett in 1968, Army Private First Class Michael E. Ludwig in 1968,. Army Private First Class Herman Judy in May 1969, Marine Private First Class Richard Hoffler in 1969, and Marine Private First Class Kermit (Bill) Holland in 1970. In addition, Air Force Tech Sergeant Michael L. Walker died in 1973 as the result of injuries received in Vietnam. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star for his bravery.

Over the years, Scotty has spent plenty of time with old friends, both within and behind the chair. Roy, Clyde and John Patton, along with Scotty, were originals from the Franconia Road shop who spent years together at Rose Hill. Roy had first opened the shop on Franconia Road in 1955. Among the more interesting stories is the one about George Atsiknoudas, who came with his wife, son and daughter to Springfield, Virginia, from his native Greece to visit his brother, who was a barber. George got a job with Roy at Rose Hill and didn’t go back to Greece until he retired 28 years later.

Other barbers who worked with Scotty at Rose Hill included Gerry Haire, Phil McNeal, Sam Hensley, Mike Leigh and Harold Wilcox. Ed Ratliffe bought the shop from Roy Rankin when the latter retired, although Roy worked the front chair every Saturday until shortly before he died in 2014. Long-time barber Jennyfer Park then bought the business from Ratliffe and continued to work at Rose Hill until last year.

Scotty also worked at barber shops in Huntington and Penn Daw at night and on his days off. He cultivated regular customers in both places. One of his customers in Huntington would bring him produce from his garden, probably not aware that Scotty had his own garden plot on Beulah Road. But it didn’t matter, because it was always the connection with the customer that counted to Scotty.

After Scotty and Darlene divorced in the mid-1990s, he met Susan Wheeler at . . . you guessed it . . . the barber shop. Susan, who lived in Vantage, brought her sons, John and Nathaniel, to Rose Hill for haircuts. Scotty and Susan were married on October 6, 1998, and the price of haircuts went down dramatically for the Wheeler boys! Scotty and Susan now live in Stafford.