Editor’s Note: The Barber, The Astronaut, and The Golf Ball by Barbara Radnofsky and Ed Supkis will be published on October 22 by Stoney Creek Publishing. This excerpt, which has been edited and condensed, is published with permission.
The rural speed trap Texas town of Webster was no comfortable place in the 1960s for Carlos Villagomez, a U.S. Navy seaman who had seen combat on a gunboat on the rivers of what is now Vietnam.
Carlos and his 14 siblings grew up in a loving home in the segregated wards of the Houston Ship Channel, and he and his brothers enlisted in the armed services as soon as they turned 18. Then after returning from the service and aided by the G.I. Bill, Carlos learned to cut hair, and saved money to start a business.
