The Days Are Numbered for Ken’s Barbershop

Ken’s Barbershop customer Patrick Heinrich gets a haircut from longtime part-time barber Mary Janca. At right is owner Nora Jurecka who credits Mary for helping to keep the business running after Ken Jurecka’s illness in 2021. In June 2020, a few days before Ken’s Barbershop moved to its West Travis Street location, Ken Jurecka draped his arm around his good friend and former boss, retired barber Charlie Ripper. The two had more than a century of barbering experience and experiences. Charlie died on March 10, 2022, and Ken passed away on April 16, 2022. Floyd Weishuhn, who also worked parttime at Ken’s shop, died two weeks later on April 30, 2022. Claude Mertz, another of Ken’s part-time barbers, passed away on Dec. 21, 2022.

A Feature by ELAINE THOMAS

Another Longtime La Grange Small Business is Shutting Down

Ken’s Barbershop on West Travis Street will close on Oct. 25 because of the shortage of professional barbers seeking full-time employment in rural Texas. It was a tough decision for owner Nora Jurecka, who has operated the shop after her husband, Ken Jurecka, passed away from cancer on April 16, 2022. Since then, Mary Janca continued to cut hair two days a week. Nora hired an additional barber, Thomas Guenther, to help.

Ken Loved a Good Story A barber for 50-plus years, Ken never met a stranger and looked forward to going to work. His habit was to get to his shop at 6:30 a.m. He often had retired men waiting for their haircuts and a visit. When he didn’t have a customer in the chair, Ken would read the newspaper or watch a western on the TV in the shop.

Ken shared his positive outlook on life. Whether the topic was fishing, hunting or local or national sports, he loved a good conversation. He would listen carefully, taking his cue from the individual in the chair. If a discussion veered off in a direction Ken thought was inappropriate, he would skillfully steer it back to more general subjects.

While Ken knew most of his customers by their full names, including childhood nicknames, he cut the hair of others known to him only by their first name or the vehicle they drove. Little boys with lots of energy were no match for Ken. He kept them distracted with a singing fish and rewarded them with bubblegum and lollipops.

If a customer needed a dozer operator, Ken would know of a good one. That also went for reputable painters, carpenters, mechanics and other trades and skills. Ken was pleased to offer referrals and his customers trusted their barber’s judgment. Ken had various jobs before becoming a full-time barber, which gave him insight into how work got done.

Before moving to the West Travis Street location in 2020, Ken’s Barbershop was open on the Square in La Grange for 32 years.

In 1988, Ken bought the business from his longtime friend and part-time boss barber, Charlie Ripper. After that, the semi-retired barber worked for Ken part-time for a time.

A Lifelong Occupation While attending Fayetteville Rural High School, Ken began studying on Saturdays and in the summer at Houston Heights Barber School. During his training and apprenticeship, he stayed with his older brother, Gene, who also was a barber. On Saturdays in Houston for two summers, Ken was often assigned “the first chair” reserved for customers requesting flattops. He became very proficient at giving that kind of haircut.

By the time Ken graduated from high school in 1969, he had earned his barber license. While attending high school, he met Nora Sunderhuse, his future wife. (The couple had been married 50 years and had two children and three grandchildren death.)

As a young man, Ken attended Blinn College for two years while working in Milton Drawe’s two-chair barbershop in Fayetteville. That shop had an overhead fan but no air conditioning. Ken later barbered two days a week in Industry and operated a barbershop in a small building at his La Grange home. When the city annexed the property, he moved the building near the city cemetery. For 17 years, Ken worked weekends for Birdie Schielack, whose barbershop was located on W. Colorado.

WhenKenmovedhisbusiness from the Square several years ago, he brought along two ornate century-old barber chairs and mirrors originally purchased by La Grange barber John Korenek, who sold them to Agnes Mika, Charlie Ripper’s aunt. Produced by a Chicago-based manufacturer, Emil Paidar Co., the chairs feature gleaming porcelainenameled arm and leg rests, as well as upholstered seats, headrests and footrests.

They’re for sale now, as is Ken’s collection of tools of the trade. You’re invited to drop by for refreshments and to reminisce with the Jurecka family and Mary on the afternoon of Oct. 25 before the lights at Ken’s Barbershop are turned off forever.

“I hate to do this because Ken worked so hard to build this business but I think he would understand,” Nora says.

Of course Ken would, Nora. Ken always put others first.