FORT KENT, Maine — If not for a flip of a coin more than a half-century ago, Lincoln Jandreau may well have celebrated 50 years in the funeral service business this year.
Instead, heads it was, and last month Jandreau renewed his state barbering license for the 50th time.
“One week before graduating from high school [in 1964] my father said to me, ‘Pick a secondary school to go to,’” Jandreau said this week. “That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, since I was not interested in any more schooling.”
So Jandreau said he searched for programs requiring the least amount of school and came up with embalming or barbering — each required one year of training.
“With a flip of a coin, I ended up going to barber school,” he said.
It was a lucky toss for countless heads of St. John Valley hair.
Jandreau retired — sort of — two years ago and took down his shingle from his Fort Kent shop.
For years that barber shop was a fixture on Pleasant Street, where the single barber chair and small waiting area were as much about socializing as they were about hair cuts.
“I do miss the daily rapport with my customers,” he said. “I would call each one of them by name when they came in, but now that I am retired [and] I see them in town, I can’t seem to remember their names,” he added with a laugh.
“I would remember what each [customer] liked to talk about, but I’d make sure we’d stay nonpolitical and nonreligious,” he said. “But I did like to ‘B.S.’ a lot, and I always enjoyed having a good laugh.”
Lincoln, originally from St. Francis, got his start at Marcel’s Barber Shop in Auburn, where the owner cared only that he could speak French.
“He told me, ‘Whatever you learned in barber school, forget it. In here we do things my way,’” Lincoln said. “We were four barbers in that shop, and I learned a lot from all of them.”
Not long after landing that first job, Lincoln was drafted and sent off to Vietnam, where he worked in an ammunition depot.
But after the two barbers in his battalion were killed during the TET Offensive, Lincoln said his commander informed him he was now the battalion barber.
He finished out his military service in Germany and after coming home to the St. John Valley decided he did not want to work as a barber.
Over the years Jandreau has delivered groceries to lumber camps, worked as a scaler in the woods and as a store clerk, managed a credit union and was an office manager at a community college.
Lincoln also used his GI Bill to earn his bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Maine at Fort Kent and took classes through Maine Military Academy in Augusta to become a 2nd lieutenant in the Maine Army National Guard.
He ended up getting back into barbering when the barber in St. Francis became ill and asked him if he’d fill in to keep his shop open evenings.
“I did have to retake the written [barber’s test] again,” Lincoln recalled. “I swore at the time I’d make sure to always keep my license current so I’d never have to do that again.”
Admitting he has seen his share of unfortunate hairstyles, Lincoln did say he has never turned anyone down no matter how outlandish the request.
“I remember once years ago the entire Fort Kent high school wrestling team came to me and all wanted mohawks,” he said. “I gave them all the cuts they wanted.”
Early on, he worked for another barber in Fort Kent who had no time for such antics.
“People would come in and describe these different styles they wanted,” Jandreau said. “The other barber would send them to me and say, ‘I don’t have time for that. Go see Lincoln — he has more patience.’”
There were never any age limits when it came to giving haircuts, and Lincoln said he would always save a clipping of hair from a young boy’s first cut and give it to his mom with a special certificate.
On the other end of the age spectrum, Lincoln — despite being “retired” — has not put down his scissors and still goes on a regular basis to local nursing homes to give residents haircuts in addition to making house calls for special clients.
Looking back and thinking about renewing his barber’s license 50 times, Lincoln said it’s hard to fathom.
“I’ve cut at least three generations of hair in Fort Kent,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s been that many years since I flipped that coin.”
Julia Bayly of Fort Kent is an award winning writer and photographer, who writes part time for Bangor Daily News. Her column appears here every other Friday. She can be reached by email at jbayly@bangordailynews.com.
