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CNS Story:
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BARBER May-8-2008 (790 words) With photos. xxxn
Barber at CUA retires with many friends after 47 years on campus
By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Barber Dominic Spadaro likes to think that barbershop friends are friends for life.
For 47 years in his shop at the Theological College of The Catholic University of America, Spadaro, 77, has barbered for well-known theologians, nuns and young students alike. He has swapped stories, discussed the day's news and shared photos of children -- and then grandchildren -- with his customer-friends.
He has been a confidant to some and offered advice to others. It comes with his job, especially for someone as familiar as Spadaro has been around the Catholic University campus.
"I get a lot of pleasure from other people's pleasure," he said. "It's a one-on-one kind of relationship. And that's very special."
Spadaro's tenure as a professional barber comes to an end May 9, when he cleans his clippers and folds his crisp striped aprons one last time in his small shop in the McCormick Pavilion at Theological College and retires to pursue his love of painting, gardening and spending time with family.
For Spadaro, being a barber has been more than just cutting hair. To a certain extent, it's an art, he said.
"There's kind of a three-dimensional thing to it," he said. "Painting is a one-dimensional exercise. Even the terminology often used (is of) sculpting hair.
"Every haircut is a challenge. And you never really get used to it even though you do the same person over and over again. It's always a new experience. You feel it's something that you approach as for the first time. It's a matter of getting to the point where I think it's right.
"My aim is to make them happy," he said. "I'm a very painstaking worker."
It's that painstaking approach to just about everything he does that led Spadaro, a member of St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish in Bethesda, Md., to turn to barbering as a career even as his heart was set on becoming an artist.
He got his start in his father's barbershop in Washington as a child. His father had come to the nation's capital in the midst of the Depression from the coal fields of West Virginia, where he had worked for two years after emigrating from Italy in 1929.
As a youngster Spadaro would watch and learn from his father, Joseph, who learned the craft of barbering in his homeland. When times were busy in the family-run shop, Joseph Spadaro would ask his young son to help cut hair.
"I used to do the children and the older men with thinner hair," Spadaro recalled. "Also I would finish the haircuts for him. I would finish the job so he could start on other customers."
When Spadaro turned 16, he became a licensed barber and continued helping his father. It wouldn't be long before the world of art and the creativity it promised were calling. When he heard about a contest sponsored by the National Society of Arts and Letters, he submitted a portfolio of watercolors he had painted during a trip to Sicily. He took first place. A full scholarship to American University to study art was the reward.
Spadaro studied fine art and art history at the university before taking off for Europe to pursue his dream as a painter. He floated back and forth between Washington and Europe, living what he called "the bohemian lifestyle." Every now and then his father would suggest that he return to the barbershop to earn money while he pursued his love of art.
Finally, Joseph Spadaro asked his son to help at the barbershop at Theological College. His father was assisting a friend at the shop and thought his son could use the money. It didn't take long for Spadaro to realize he could make a better living as a barber than as a painter, especially with marriage to his Italian-born wife, Marisa, on the horizon.
In 1960, the younger Spadaro opened his own shop at Theological College. He has been cutting hair for those who work, study and live in the Catholic community centered along Michigan Avenue in Northeast Washington ever since. It's not unusual as well for old friends from across the country to show up at Spadaro's shop to say hello and get a trim.
When he puts aside his scissors for good, Spadaro will take away memories of the many friendships he has made over the years.
"They're close friendships," he said. "I look forward to their coming here as much as they do getting a haircut. We can talk and visit. The fact that I won't be seeing them is very much felt by me."
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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