"Dad." Hangs Up His Shears
DAD BOWMAN, known for many years as Hanover's most venerable barber and canniest fisherman, has sold his shop over Putnam's Drug Store and his brown house on Sargent Street to go to Danbury, Conn., where he will live with his grandchildren. At the age of 82 he decided that this was a good time to retire from both business and housekeeping.
Born in Newport, Vt., Dad spent most of his childhood in Burke, Vt. When he was 21 he went to California but after two years was back in New England. He worked for a while in Claremont, where he trained and cared for horses in a stable owned by William Moody. When Moody sold his business, Dad came to Hanover, where he was gardener and caretaker for Mrs. Howe (on a farm near the present site of Howe Library), and had charge of her pair of fine horses. In 1897 he decided to become a barber, and went to work for M. IVJggAmaral in the old shop at Cobb's store. When there was an opening in the Hanover Inn Barber Shop, Dad went there to work, and stayed from 1902 until 1940, when he bought his own shop. During these years he trained several Hanover barbers—among them Tony, Louie, Walt and Ernie. He was always popular with students. Many a Dartmouth graduate returning to Hanover has heard a friendly tap on the Inn Shop window and turned to receive a cheerful nod of welcome and recognition from Dad. Unlike most "Dads, Dad Bowman did not receive his name at home but from an advertising manr ager of The Dartmouth, who, in writing an ad, used his own nickname for Bow- man; and the name "Dad" remained his ever after.
In 1919, when Prof. John M. Meck"lin came to Dartmouth, he asked who in Hanover knew the most about fishing on the Connecticut. Presented at once to Dad Bowman, he and Dad became inseparable companions. Added to Dad's knowledge of bass fishing was Mecklin's boat, and the two spent many hours fishing in the places that Dad Bowman had discovered. He called Mecklin an apt pupil. When speaking on this subject Dad said, "People say I shouldn't tell the places where the fish bite, but I never lost anything by telling. You can give some people the knowledge, but they still'won't catch the fish. They have to have the sense, too."
In his book, My Quest for Freedom, Professor Mecklin paid his friend a tribute, of which Bowman is very proud: "I must express my deep debt of gratitude to an old bass fisherman, familiarly known to all the village as 'Dad' Bowman He had an uncanny knowledge of the ways of the bass. He combined the soul of a fisherman, a keen sense of humor and a kindly tolerance, with the hard horse sense of the Vermonter. He never spoke ill of any man and he stood the supreme test of the fisherman when he laughed goodnaturedly at the big hass that, after a long and hard fight, finally outwitted him and broke free. In him the kindly spirit of old Izaak Walton still lives."
Most men leaving home and friends at the age of 83 would be forgiven if they spent their remaining years in repining and recalling the past. But being the man that he is, Dad, it is reported, is already investigating the good fishing places around Danbury.
DAD BOWMAN, who has retired after 49 years of Hanover barbering, shown giving a trim to his friend and fishing companion, Prof. John M. Mecklin.
