Balboa Peninsula loses a ‘friend’

Young Chang

BALBOA PENINSULA -- Donald Wayne Moses had his wife post signs on the

door to their barbershop in recent weeks that read, “I’m coming back.”

He was worried about customers he had served for 43 years, customers

who had relied on him to cut their hair and to be a friend as the tresses

were trimmed.

While at Hoag Hospital for pancreatic cancer treatment this month, he

asked wife Linda to find a new barber to take care of his “friends,” just

in case.

Moses died on Wednesday. He was 68.

And though he never made it back to Mr. Balboa, his Balboa Peninsula

shop, his customers have been stopping by since his death with flowers,

hugs for Linda and to glimpse the photo of Moses wearing his usual Reyn

Spooner reversible Hawaiian-print shirt.

“You could not stop by his shop without him saying, ‘Oh Gay, come here

a minute. Did you hear this?”’ longtime friend Gay Wassall-Kelly said.

“His stories, they would just slay you. He knew something about

everybody. It was never gossipy, though. Always an accomplishment or

something.”

Mike Payne, a 20-year customer of the late barber and a clerk at the

neighboring Balboa branch of the Newport Beach Public Library, said Moses

was the typical barber in that he was genuinely nice.

“You kind of have to be, to be a barber,” said the clerk, who is now

searching for someone new to cut his hair. “Barbers are always famous for

talking and sharing the news.”

But Moses rarely let on how sick he was. He never complained and never

sacrificed a smile, no matter how bad he felt, Linda Moses said.

The Los Angeles native moved to Newport Beach in 1959, first opening

the shop with his barber father. Moses became known for his smile and for

how he made even strangers smile. He would stay open past 5:30 p.m. if a

customer couldn’t make it in from work on time. He would give of his

compassion just as readily.

“He was generous to a fault,” close friend Ginny Fisher said. “He

loved everybody.”

Moses had surgery in October and returned to work almost immediately.

For months he was fine, until about five weeks ago, when he became ill

again.

“But he and I used to talk about how you need to have goals and

objectives that get you up in the morning,” said friend Lou von Dyl, a

pancreatic cancer survivor. “So many people accept what the doctor says,

but he and I, we didn’t believe that. We believed we were going to make

it.”

Von Dyl met Moses in 1974. The city newcomer needed a haircut and

walked into Mr. Balboa.

“We talked for a few minutes. I didn’t quite agree with the way my

hair should be cut, and I said to him, ‘I like your haircut. Who cuts

your hair?”’ Von Dyl said. “He said his father.”

The senior Moses wasn’t working that day, so Von Dyl ended up in the

younger Moses’ chair.

For almost 30 years, the two fondly disagreed about the way Von Dyl’s

hair needed to be cut and about the merits of classic Fords versus

classic Chevys. Moses prized his 1957 black Thunderbird and was also part

of the Orange County Thunderbird Circle.

“And I guess we just continued on with the haircuts and the car

shows,” Von Dyl said.

Moses is also survived by sons Brad and Scott Moses, daughter Gaylynn

Moses, and grandsons Chad and Matthew Moses.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Christ Church by the Sea,

1400 W. Balboa Blvd., Newport Beach. A party will follow at the American

Legion. Donations may be sent to Hoag Hospital Cancer Center.

* Young Chang is the features and arts and entertainment writer. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4268 or by e-mail at o7

[email protected] .