LIBERAL — In today's world, it's rare to find someone who has been working the same job for 60-plus years. Coy Miller of Liberal is such a rarity.
Not only has Coy been a barber that long, he has operated his El-Kan Barbershop at the same location for more than 43 years.
Coy Miller's El-Kan Barbershop in Liberal has been in the same location for 43 years. Miller, 78, gives a haircut to Joe Aragon, who has been a customer for four or five years. Miller "gives a real good haircut," Aragon said.
"I heard about this shopping center that was going to be built, and I talked to this guy, Earl Williamson. Boy he just signed me right up," Miller said. "They had the grocery store completed about two weeks before I came up here that was in June of 1957."
Miller, 78, had developed an interest in cutting hair before he moved to Liberal in 1939 from a farm near Ringling, Okla.
"I had a granddaddy that was a barber, and I had an uncle that was a barber," Miller said. And although he never worked with either of them, he did "work on" his brother.
"I was about 14 and I cut ol' Bill's hair he was five years younger. I got him out in the woods behind the cow pen, and sat him on a stump," Miller said. "Oh boy, I butchered him up. I worked on him, I'll bet, four hours. He had curly hair."
"Ol' Bill was begging me. He'd say, 'Oh, let's quit let's quit,"' he said with a laugh.
Miller's uncle and his father tried to repair the damage without success.
"Yep, he was my first customer. I stayed hid out for a while," Miller said.
He joined the Navy in 1941 and was assigned to the ship's barbershop. He left the Navy seven years later with the rank of barber first class.
After the war, he returned to Liberal, passed the state's barber exam, and worked at several shops before opening his own.
The price of a haircut in 1957 had risen 25 cents to $1.50. "To get that extra quarter raise, you had to fight for it," Miller said. It would often upset customers to the point they would go someplace else, but they would eventually return, he said.
Miller recalls some funny things that happened in his shop through the years. Most involve children, and Miller said he often worked out deals with the parents. One such story is recalled by Able Velasquez of Liberal.
"My dad would take us boys down to Coy's all the time. Coy would sit me in the chair and ask me real nice, 'Son, how do you want your hair cut?' I'd say, 'I just want a little off the sides and a little off the back and none off the top.' And I'd come out of there with a butch haircut every time."
It was some years later that Velasquez found out that his father would call Coy before he brought the boys in and tell the barber to ask them what they wanted but regardless, give them a butch or a crew cut.
"He was nice and always said OK every time I told him how I wanted my hair, but they were working together, so I'd sit still in the chair. Boy, he sure butchered me through the years," Velasquez said with a chuckle.
In the late 1960s and early '70s, Miller survived the long-hair styles that put some barbers out of business.
"I've had them go out of here looking worse than they came in," he said. "I'd look at that and say, 'I can't believe I took his money.' But that's what they wanted that long hair," Miller said.
After working over 43 years in the same barbershop, Miller said he has many fond memories and no regrets.
"Did you know this was the first barbershop in Liberal to have a telephone?" Miller asked while reminiscing.
"I've had a pretty good life barbering. I've enjoyed it," he said.
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