West Side Stories: Wigfall's Barbershop

At first glance, you wouldn’t guess Adeline Wigfall-Jones is 93 years old.

After 60 years of cutting hair, you might think she's slowed down by now. Perhaps work less days a week or cut down her hours.

But no. She’s only closed on Sundays and opens her shop early if a customer needs a trim.

Simply put, she just doesn't want to spend her days staring out a window at her house. 

She wants to keep doing this as long as possible. Hopefully even make it to 100.

Wigfall-Jones bought her barber shop, Wigfall Barber, in 1976, after working out of the old Union Hall down the street for 13 years.

She spent her last $50 on enrollment at Lovell’s Barber College in Gary.

Having only a fifth-grade education, Wigfall-Jones didn’t anticipate the chemistry, biology or even psychology she needed to know to get her license.

“I said, ‘why do I have to know this? All I need to know is to get some clippers and cut hair.’”

She’d soon learn there was much more to the craft than she realized.

And 60 years down the line, it would be the community at her shop, along with her service, that would solidify her as a South Bend staple.

Affectionately known as Miss Adeline to many, Wigfall-Jones has cut hair for generations of South Bend residents. The kids she once knew had kids of their own before her eyes.

“You’ve been cutting hair 50 plus years, you see a lot of kids,” she said. “I got some come in to tell me they got grandkids.”

The community Miss Adeline built in the barbershop is evident with every turn of the head. Photos of past customers hang in frames on one wall. Kids coloring pages, of whose artists are now grown, line a section of another. All are images of a life well lived and loved. 

And it’s a safe and reliable place for the community. From kids needing a place to camp out after school to adults in need of a last-minute trim before the shop’s regular hours, Miss Adeline welcomes all.

Just don’t talk about religion or politics. Those topics, too divisive in her eyes, are off-limits.

She also has a strict “no gun” policy. Signs hang on the walls and in the window as a reminder.

Regardless of what changes outside the shop, it's what's inside that Miss Adeline wants to control for the better.

“I have a lot of the old church people that comes in. One was in yesterday. The whole conversation was, ‘what's going on in the neighborhood? What can we do to better things? And how we should do it.’”

When asked about her impact on that community, Miss Adeline doesn’t seem to understand what all the fuss is about.

Just this past March, she was given an honorary sign on Elm Street. Another tribute is coming her way in a few months.

And while she’s grateful for the recognition, it still doesn’t mean she gets the hype around her.

“I’m honored, but I don’t think I deserve all that.”

I, for one, think she does deserve it, and I'm likely not the only one who feels that way.

In addition to cutting hair, Wigfall Barber has a station set up to take blood pressure tests. The shop recently took part in the Indiana Black Barbershop Health Initiative’s annual health clinic, but testing at Wigfall is available year-round.

According to the Indiana State Department of Health, Black men have the highest mortality rate of any demographic in the state.

“Men don’t like going to doctors. Women will go but the men won’t,” Miss Adeline said. “I heard them say, ‘I don’t want to know what’s wrong.’ Well you should...we talk them into it.”

Whether you want a cut, conversation or listening ear, Miss Adeline and her staff have it down pat. And if you read this far and still aren't convinced she's deserving of her status in the community, take it from the words she lives by that her dad taught her years ago. 

"My dad always told us, 'you're no more in your word...’ So if you say you're gonna do it, do it. If you can't do it, say you can’t. There's nothing wrong with you not being able to do anything. But do what you say you're gonna do.”