Column: Eddie Maynor was an everyman with brushes, combs and charm

EASTOVER — The barber’s pole of red, white and blue striping wasn’t twirling on this day of farewell. 

His trimmers, shears, clippers, straight razors, combs, brushes and hair dryer by the fourth chair of Highland Barber Shop along Raeford Road were silent on Nov. 9 when Eddie Maynor would be remembered for cutting the hair of generations of customers in a barbering career of 58 years.

A brother called him Edward Earl. Customers called him Eddie, and others called him Mr. Eddie.  

“A man we all loved so much,” the Rev. Wesley Pritchard said on a day of somber celebration at Fayetteville Community Church. “He was a kind man. He was a good man.” 

A Christian soldier, too, a brother would tell us.

“I’ll never be able to fill the shoes of my brother,” the Rev. Terry P. Maynor of Shiloh Pentecostal Holiness Church in nearby Godwin said. “He was a giant, and what you always saw was that smile on his face. I remember when my brother and I were saved. That’s when the greatness of my brother came into play. I still remember that day in a modular home. Since that day, we shared some good times. We talked about Jesus, and we got ourselves a bellyful of God.”

He looked down from the pulpit at the black coffin. 

“I believe when my brother’s time came,” a brother would say, “I lost my brother, and he gained heaven. My brother’s belly is full in Jesus. I’m blessed with a brother that’s a child of God now in heaven.”

‘A good man gives you integrity’

Eddie Maynor was something of an everyman. 

He was engaging. 

He liked his customers who sat in his barbering chair. He never rushed a cut or a shave. His time was a customer’s time. 

“Eddie was meticulous,” Rev. Pritchard, a customer, told us. “He did things the right way. He knew things needed to be done the right way.”

Eddie Maynor was that kind of man, just as he was when a member of the Hope Mills Board of Commissioners, where he listened to residents with a receptive ear, be it their concerns of drainage issues on a south Cumberland County neighborhood roadway or a concern about the old Hope Mills Lake dam.

“A good man gives you integrity,” Pritchard said. “Integrity and good words. I believe the man that lies before you today is that man.”

A lifetime in the barber shops

Eddie Maynor graduated from East Carolina Indian School, a high school in Sampson County. In 1966, he earned his barbering skills from the Durham Institute of Barbering before working with Jerome Fisher, Tommy Elkins, Bob Jackson, Rick Prado and Frank Williams at the Tallywood Barber Shop in Tallywood Shopping Center in Fayetteville. He later opened Eddie’s Men’s Hairstyling on Hope Mills Road before returning to Tallywood. Maynor joined with Williams in 1995 at Highland Barber Shop. 

“We never had an argument that I recall,” Williams, 80, said. “He was into politics in Hope Mills and I looked after paying the bills. He looked after politics. He was a commissioner about 12 years, and I believe, once the mayor pro tem.”

Even after leaving the town board, Maynor continued to champion Hope Mills. 

“Former Commissioner Eddie Maynor was a very passionate commissioner who cared deeply about the Hope Mills community,” Hope Mills Mayor Jessie Bellflowers said. “After he left public office, he continued to weigh in on issues that affected Hope Mills. For example, he strongly supported maintaining the integrity of neighborhoods. I greatly respected his advice and planned to ask him if he would serve on the newly created town economic development committee.”

Maynor had a “Who’s Who” of clients including country music singer Ronnie Milsap, professional golfer Raymond Floyd, retired N.C. House member Billy Richardson and the late Earl “Moose” Butler, the longtime Cumberland County sheriff. 

“He was a good barber,” Williams said. “He cut my hair, too.”

Maynor liked the banter with customers and working alongside Gene Ivey, Jonathan Cribb and Williams. 

“I remember how he could talk to anybody,” Cribb, 31, said. “He could relate to people. He could remember somebody’s name better than anybody I ever saw. If you told him your name, he was going to remember it.”

Maynor worked alongside longtime Fayetteville barber Gene Ivey. 

“We worked next to each other for about 14 years,” Ivey, 93, said. “I’m going to miss him for sure.”

Maynor spent his last day at the shop on Nov. 2. 

“He didn’t have any appointments,” Williams said. “He preferred to work by appointments. He left about noon and said he was going to be with his wife and go shopping.”

Edward Earl Maynor then fell ill at his Hope Mills home. He died later at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. 

He was 80. 

Proud of his heritage

Greg Richardson would remember Maynor for his pride in being an American Indian and member of the Coharie Tribe.

“He had high integrity,” said Richardson, executive director for the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs. “You didn’t get to serve with the [Committee] of Indian Affairs without integrity and support of the community. While it is a sad day, it’s a time to celebrate the life of Eddie Maynor and all he stood for. He was on the [N.C. Indian Affairs] state recognition committee, and he was passionate about it. Eddie wanted to be on that committee, and he served very well.

“He was chairman of the Cumberland County Association for Indian People. I consider him a statesman. He made a difference in our state. I wonder what it would have been like had it not been for Eddie Maynor. He contributed much in his life to make sure the American Indian heritage was not forgotten.

“His legacy will live on for a long time in history,” Richardson said.

Epilogue

Some called him Edward Earl. Others called him Eddie, and to others, he was Mr. Eddie. 

The Rev. Wesley Pritchard called Eddie Mayor a Christian soldier.

“Eddie believed one day he would see Jesus Christ,” Pritchard said. “A person doesn’t go to heaven to find Christ. He finds Christ to go to heaven.”

Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.

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