{"id":769,"date":"2023-08-30T15:18:54","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T15:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/?p=769"},"modified":"2023-08-30T15:19:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T15:19:43","slug":"meet-my-uncle-eddie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/?p=769","title":{"rendered":"Meet my Uncle Eddie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I was 23 years old, my Uncle Eddie pointed me to Jesus. Here is a newspaper article about his legacy of being a barber for 53 years. -Paul<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Newnan barber Eddie Millians retiring after 53 years in business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Clay Neely<\/p>\n\n\n\n

August 25, 2023 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is reposted from the Newnan Times-Herald here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A community doesn\u2019t change overnight. Bit by bit, little changes accumulate until you turn around one day and wonder where the time went. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newnan is certainly no exception, and one of those little changes is happening presently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 53 years, Eddie Millians is preparing to call it a day from cutting hair at his unassuming barbershop on Dixon Street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you sit down to talk with Millians, you quickly learn that he\u2019s a bona fide listener, a key asset for any barber or bartender. Over the last five decades, he\u2019s heard his share of stories, but he keeps most of them in confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople share things with me they wouldn\u2019t share with their family,\u201d he recalled. \u201cBecause of that, I had the opportunity to pray for them. Sometimes they knew, sometimes they didn\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millians got his start early. At 10, his father Bobby passed away. Being the oldest child, Millians quickly understood the need to help provide income for his family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Elliot Kee was a friend of the Millians family and took the boy under his wing. At 16 years old, Millians went to work with Kee in his barbershop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe had a lot of patience and had to put up with some youthful foolishness,\u201d Millians recalled. \u201cMr. Kee taught me to cut hair but was also like a father figure to me. He mentored me in a lot of ways.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millians worked \u201cshoulder to shoulder\u201d with Kee as an apprentice and was under his direct tutelage for 1,500 hours. He finished high school but kept working at the barbershop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He still remembers giving his first haircut to a 7-year-old boy named Sandy Spinks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy early days were spent cutting a lot of little boys\u2019 hair,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThat was one of the precious parts \u2013 now they\u2019re 50 years old and still coming to me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Newnan has changed dramatically since Millians started, not much has changed inside his barbershop. The way he does it now is exactly how he\u2019s done it since the beginning, right down to being a cash-only business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what people want,\u201d he said. \u201cThe real treasure is not in the money but the people I met. Some became dear friends \u2013 people I hunt, fish and go to church with. It\u2019s just one big family with different names.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The \u2018big family\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The barbershop offers a great cross-section of life in a small town. Millians’ mother was secretary to Clifford Cranford, who served as solicitor general of Coweta County from 1952- 1984. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cranford was a regular customer of Millians and often shared courthouse happenings with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe never wanted to see marriages end, so he\u2019d ask me to join him in praying for them not to get a divorce,\u201d Millians recalled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Bob Blackburn said Millians will be sorely missed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s our family barber, and (we) loved going hunting and fishing with him,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s as Newnan as they come, and I can\u2019t say enough about how much we love and appreciate him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legendary local cartoonist David Boyd ultimately became a customer of Millians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow that was pretty fun,\u201d Millians said. \u201cWe got to be good friends and referred to our appointments as summit conferences.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boyd\u2019s son-in-law, Jason Bedingfield, has been a customer of Millians since moving to Newnan in 1988. He now takes his youngest son, John, to get his hair cut as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI care about the man. He\u2019s old-school Newnan and a store of local knowledge,\u201d Bedingfield said. \u201cUsually, when you’re getting a haircut, you make small talk with your barber. But Mr. Eddie knew my mom, aunt, uncles and cousins because he went to school with them at Western. He knew my grandparents, too, when they were still young parents. So he\u2019s got lots of great stories.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even death can\u2019t stop customers from needing Millians\u2019 services. He often cuts the hair of his deceased clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been bothered by the dead ones. They can\u2019t hurt you, and you can\u2019t hurt them,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of memories go through your head when you do that. They have been customers for so many years.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like bartenders, barbers are renowned for their ability to listen to clients without interjecting their own experiences. Millians said the days following 9\/11 were some of his most difficult times working with customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt that point, I still had a lot of World War II vets who had been through so much,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t talk to their families about the horrors of war, but they could share those memories with me. They could cry, I would cry. I would go home emotionally drained.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millians\u2019 \u201cgreatest generation\u201d clients provided wisdom and insight. Those clients would be 100 years old now, he said, and he misses those priceless conversations he enjoyed with them for decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Great Depression, World War II, raising kids \u2013 they went through more stuff than we have and often would share those experiences with me,\u201d Millians said. \u201cYou can glean a whole lot of wisdom behind a chair. But you have to be a good listener. That\u2019s why God gave us two ears but only one mouth. You should listen twice as much as you talk.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coweta Judge Emory Palmer has been a loyal customer of Millians for 40 years and confirmed his listening prowess. Like Bedingfield, he also took his children to Millians for their first haircuts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is a man of few words,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cI hate to see him go because it is one more thing from the Newnan of the 1970s, the Newnan of my childhood, that is fading away. I felt like a man sitting in there as a 7-year-old reading a Field & Stream magazine while waiting for a haircut. You don’t get that at GreatClips. You also don’t get your neck shaved with a straight razor.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next chapter <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millians\u2019 retirement came along like many others. The timing was right, he said, and although he\u2019ll be sad to close a chapter on a long career as Newnan\u2019s barber, he\u2019s looking forward to the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know what I\u2019ll do yet, but it will be a learning experience,\u201d Millians said. \u201cI plan on writing a book based on lessons I\u2019ve learned from a whole lot of living and listening. Some customers will be in there, but the names will be changed to protect the innocent.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he plans to spend more time with his wife, Vivian, whom he first met at a Bible study class at Moreland Methodist Church. The couple, who lives in Welcome near Western Elementary School, recently celebrated 31 years of marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millians may be closing the doors of Eddie’s Barber Shop, but the memories and friendships are eternal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI appreciate all the people who were good to me and hope they think of me as much as I do of them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was 23 years old, my Uncle Eddie pointed me to Jesus. Here is a newspaper article about his legacy of being a barber for 53 years. -Paul Newnan barber Eddie Millians retiring after 53 years in business by Clay Neely August 25, 2023 This article is reposted from the Newnan Times-Herald here. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","tag-jesus","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enjoyjesusmore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}