Little Rock, Arkansas – The Arkansas State Department of Labor and Licensing (ADLL) and the State Board of Barber Examiners posthumously recognize Leroy Jesse Evatt for his longevity as an Arkansas Barber who passed away on August 5, 2022, at 104 years old.
Mr. Evatt was born in Vilonia, Arkansas on April 10, 1918. He was 10 years old when he purchased his first barbershop in Vilonia from his cousin. Ironically, the purchase price was also $10. This was before a state barber licensing board required barbers to have a license. However, in 1937, under the administration of Arkansas Governor Carl E. Bailey, the State Board of Barber Examiners was established, and Mr. Evatt was one of the first barbers to receive a license.
At the age of 14, Mr. Evatt would meet his future bride, Uvie Brown, at a Nazarene church revival. Following a years-long courtship throughout their schooling and his enlistment in the Arkansas National Guard, they married in 1941. He served in the US Army for 28 months, being deployed to the Aleutian Islands during World War II. His main job was to be a barber, cutting the hair of enlisted soldiers.
Mr. Evatt returned home from the war in 1947. He purchased the Donaghey Building Barber Shop in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. There he provided a quality cut and listened to some of Arkansas’ most influential men in business and politics. Back then the local barber shop was a social gathering place for many men in the community.
“It was an honor for me to present a Capitol Citation honoring the late Leroy Evatt, one of the first barbers in Arkansas to receive a license, to his wife of over 80 years, Mrs. Uvie Evatt, as well as offer my condolences on the loss of this great Arkansan,” said ADLL Secretary Daryl Bassett. “I know he was an inspiration to his friends and family, a man who has been described as an honorable upgrade to the barbering profession.”
On September 17, 1997, Mr. Evatt received a Lifetime Registered Barber License, upon turning 80. Mr. Evatt was strong in his Christian faith. He and his wife were members of their local church where he proudly served weekly as an Usher. In addition to his family and faith, Mr. Evatt was a 32nd Degree Mason, and an avid gardener, hunter, and golfer. He was known to his family and friends as simply “Dado.”
“The barber profession lost one of their first licensees that were grandfathered in when the barber board was established in 1937.” Phyllis Jacobsen, Director of the State Board of Barber Examiners said. “Mr. Evatt emailed me once or twice a week. I am going to miss his emails. They were always so positive and uplifting.”
