When he started cutting hair 50 years ago, Jerry Pokrzywinski said he was getting "a buck or a buck and a half." These days, as he winds down a half century of barbering, he is getting $13 for a haircut in his shop downstairs in UND Memorial Union.
Sometimes, he gets a tip. If he does, it's usually "a buck or a buck and a half."
For years, the shop, which is decorated in Sioux greens, was called Tom and Jerry's. Now it's just Jerry's, since Tom Dryburgh retired five years ago.
Jerry said he is retiring - "slowly."
Three-day week
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He usually works Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. He still likes the camaraderie he has with his longtime customers. He's proud of being the barber for Tom Clifford, retired UND president. He enjoys the rapport he has with coaches and other faculty members at UND.
Days in the barbershop are pleasant, with customers coming and going. And Jerry now has a woman barber for a partner. She is Marie Jorgenson, and she is there every day. She started out as a hair stylist and decided she would rather cut hair. So she shifted gears and went to barber school.
Marie was between haircuts when I stopped by the shop recently. Jerry was cutting Al Pearson's hair, and they were engrossed in conversation. They have become good friends through years of haircuts. Pearson started going to Tom & Jerry's in 1961, right after he came to Grand Forks from Thunder Bay, Ont.
Besides being a longtime client, Al has become a good friend of Jerry. He brought his kids in to the shop for haircuts. He and Jerry go fishing together. So, getting a haircut is a good time for a visit.
Jerry's life storyJerry is a low-key, good-natured man. He grew up in Alvarado, Minn., and graduated from high school there in 1955. He played basketball and had an eye on Darlene Riskey, who was a cheerleader for the Oslo, Minn., team. He went from high school to the Army. After that, he decided to become a barber because his brother, Marvin, was a barber in Crookston and doing fairly well.
Jerry took his training at Moler Barber School in Fargo, which long has been the only barber training place in the state. He and Darlene were married and raised four children. And they now have 10 grandchildren.
She is retired from her job at UND and thinks it's time for Jerry to wind down, too.
For Tom and Jerry, barbering has been a good lifetime work. But, the number of barbers in North Dakota is shrinking. Jill Mrnak, Bowman, N.D., secretary of the State Barbers Association, said 235 are now working in North Dakota. That's down about 200 from what it was 20 years ago. And she said the numbers have been stable the past eight years.
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Moler Barber College in Fargo has about a dozen to 15 students most of the time. And there are more women among the students than in the early years. The school has been going since 1923. It takes about 10 months for would-be barbers to complete the 1,550 hours of classwork required. And it costs them about $6,000.
Barbers have become fewer and farther between over the years as many men get their cuts in styling shops. In Greater Grand Forks, where there once were dozens of shops, there are now only a half dozen.
Shaves with a haircut are a thing of the past. The barbers stand at their chair with clippers, shears and razors. Jerry still does some neck shaves. Most people are wearing their hair shorter and a lot are buzzing their own hair.
In his shop, Jerry's conversations center on the Sioux teams and what's happening around the campus.
But right now, hunting is the priority. Jerry was out of there Friday for deer hunting around Watford City, N.D., with his sons Rick and Todd and the grandkids. He was out earlier hunting duck, geese, pheasants, turkey - "all of them," he said. He'll get out to Montana in December for more hunting.
And then what?
Ice fishing, he said.
Reach Marilyn Hagerty at mhagerty@gfherald.com or telephone 772-1055.
