THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9409300202
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Janelle La Bouve
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Following in his father's footsteps took Robert S. Hagwood all the way to the cleaners, Hagwood Master Cleaners that is.
In 1922, Hagwood's father, Akey M. Hagwood, established Hagwood Master Cleaners in Portsmouth, using only a can of gasoline and a brush to clean clothes.
Robert Hagwood, who is now 64, took over the business in 1956, 34 years later.
``Dad built a tall wooden box across the back of a motorcycle so he could hang clothes in it,'' Hagwood said proudly. ``He sold hot dogs and automobile tires and a little bit of everything along with the cleaning.''
His mother, Hazel Hagwood, 91, was involved, too. She saw to it that the money got to the bank.
Cleaning garments with gasoline in the early days left them with an unpleasant odor. Hagwood's father came up with an ingenuous solution to the problem.
He designed a cabinet with many tiny vents, then ran steam pipes through the top. That allowed the cleaned garment to be sprayed with a fine steam spray, which removed the odor.
After Robert Hagwood took over the business, he began to design his own advertisements. He still has a plaque from the 1960s, which recognizes his ads in The Virginian-Pilot as the nation's best in laundry and dry cleaning advertisements.
One ad said something like ``The last water in Hagwood's washes is so clean that you could drink it.'' In the ad, he was pictured holding a glass of water.
When Hagwood attended Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, N.C., he took up playing the saxophone with a band called the Kampus Kats. The band still gets together almost yearly for a reunion.
For nearly three decades, he played with dance bands. They started out at Elizabeth Manor Country Club and went on to play throughout the area.
``We got so popular and had such a great time that we were booked for a year at a time,'' Hagwood said. For the past several years, he's had a Panasonic sing-along machine, which allows him to give a one-man performance and provide his own accompaniment. Soon he hopes to entertain at nursing homes and other places.
Now that he's semi-retired, Hagwood has a new hobby. When he and Kathryn, his wife of 39 years, moved to their house on Harding Drive in Western Branch, the half-acre back yard was green but bare as a desert, without a single tree or bush.
Just two years later, their yard is filled with apricot, plum, peach, pear, nectarine, bing cherry, fig and pomegranate trees.
``We had never worked with flowers or trees before,'' he said.
The plants, which number about 1,000, include fringed, red and purple petunias, white-tipped dahlias, asters, drooping fuchsia spindles called amaranth and touch-me-nots, their pouch-like pods packed with seeds.
``I like to dig holes, so I plant,'' he said. ``Kathy pulls the grass.''
Name: Robert S. Hagwood Sr.
Nickname: Bob
Number of years in Portsmouth: 62
Birthplace: Portsmouth
Birthdate: 6-17-30
Occupation: Semi-retired from laundry and dry cleaning business
What other job than your own would you like? Chef
Marital status: Married 39 years
Children: Lisa, 31; Bryan, 34; and Bobby, 36
Grandchildren: Jay, 7; Chase, 9; and Miles, 6
Fondest childhood memory: Going to Ocean View by streetcar
First concert: Billy Eckstine in 1949
What song or book title best describes your life? ``My Way''
If you won the lottery, what's the very first thing you would buy? I'd take my wife shopping
If you could trade places for just one day with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? I wouldn't trade places with anyone
Biggest accomplishment: Marrying Kathy
Most embarrassing moment: Had to play the Star-Spangled Banner on the sax by myself without prior notice or practice before a crowd of Marine officers
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My weight
Perfect way to spend the day: Going shopping with my wife, having dinner out and going to a good movie or working in the yard.
I can't resist: Chocolate
Favorite Portsmouth restaurant: New York Deli
Biggest problem facing Portsmouth: Need drastic cut in operating expenses and waste so as to cut taxes to citizens and businesses
If you had three wishes for Portsmouth, what would they be?
That we get the racetrack
The economy improves
More jobs available for everybody ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
by CNB