Barber dead at age 45 from Coronavirus, did house calls

dude sounded like he was a great one... smh

Was hospitalized March 22, stable by the 28th and died last Saturday.




Eugene "Taper" Thompson posted this photo on his Facebook page on March 17, saying he felt unwell. Thompson died April 4 after testing positive for COVID-19 on March 22.

• THE LATEST
  • Staying true to their calling — Hospices continue to provide end-of-life services
  • Hospital officer: ‘People need to stay home’
  • Unemployment rate down for Lincoln County
  • Joseph Charles Booksh Jr.
  • Holmes Elton ‘Buzzy’ Cummings

Beloved Brookhaven barber dies of coronavirus, leaves legacy of hard work



By Daily Leader Staff

Email the author

Published 12:14 pm Monday, April 6, 2020

Eugene Thompson of Brookhaven was a father, son, brother, businessman and friend. He was known as a staple among the community from owning a barber shop to being a role model to his children and teaching aspiring barbers.

Over the weekend, a Brookhaven stylist became the first person in Lincoln County to die from illness related to COVID-19.

Brookhaven’s Eugene Thompson, owner of Taper Nation and Taper Nation 2 barbershops, died April 4 at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson.

Thompson was feverish on March 17, so he got tested and went into self-quarantine that day. He posted to his Facebook page that his shop would be closed “for the rest of the week.” 

Thompson posted a photo of himself wearing a face mask on his Facebook page March 17, with the following message: “Quarantine yourself stay away from people…places.. or things…I felt a little acky… fever was a little high so I came to get checked… tapernation will be closed for the rest of the week…well deserved rest and relaxation.”

According to media reports, Thompson tested positive for COVID-19 on March 22. Two days later he was fighting for his life in the hospital, for dehydration.

Thompson’s sister, Dedra Edwards, told Jackson-area media that a nurse practitioner called her at 12:22 p.m. Saturday to let her know her brother had died, less than one week after his 46th birthday.

“Our last memory of him is getting on the ambulance. We weren’t able to say goodbye, he was alone my brother was all by himself,” said Dedra Edwards, Eugene’s sister.

“He couldn’t get up and walk to the car, not walk around the house cause he couldn’t do that anyway. At 12:22 p.m. the nurse practitioner in the ICU at St. Domenic called me and said his heart stopped and we couldn’t revive him,” expressed Dedra.



. The popular barber was known and loved on many levels by many people.

Byron Catchings and Thompson, friends since high school, had often talked about working together in the same barbershop one day. Catchings was hit hard by the news of his old friend’s death. So were many others.

“The thing about losing Eugene is it was just reaching out to everybody in this community because this whole community knew him and no matter who you was, you knew Eugene,” said Catchings.

The barber, just a few days past his 46th birthday when he died, had an impact on a lot of people. He wasn’t just well known in his community, but also among barbers around the country.

“A great icon. He touched so many people’s lives here. And other places as well,” said his cousin Teegie Hargro, detailing how a Facebook group of barbers from around the country had paid tribute to him this weekend.

Hargro owns SweeTeez, a sweets shop on Monticello Street. As people came in for carryout orders, they all talked about knowing Eugene.

Shanta Harris was a customer who developed a close friendship with Eugene. When she first moved her children back to Brookhaven, she didn’t have money for their haircuts.

His daughter, Monique Thompson, said though she didn’t get a chance to say good bye he will always be her best friend.

Ultimately, the family wants to relay one simple message– to take this virus serious.

“Everybody before you go outside, or before you decide to go to your friends house make sure before you make that decision you know going outside that door could very well kill you, your children, or your parents,” said Dedra.


“There’s a lot of people, kids and adults that he cut for free that didn’t have the money and I was one of them,” Harris said.

Catchings said in high school, Thompson was a quiet guy who played in the band. As an adult, Thompson was the life of the party, and he was an entrepreneur.

“He was outgoing, fun to be around, a big joker and prankster, but when it all came down to business, he was all about business,“ Hargro said.

He had a laser-like focus on his goals, too. Thompson had wanted to start a barber school for many years, and he opened TaperNation in September.

“If he saw it and he thought that he could do it, it was going to happen, and it happened,” Catchings said as he stood in the parking lot of TaperNation.

Thompson’s next goal was to find ways to racially reunite Brookhaven, black and white. A post on Facebook shows photos of his work cutting designs into the hair of the Brookhaven Academy baseball team, which is mostly white.

Catchings said Thompson always spoke of cutting hair -- not black hair or white hair, just hair. That became his goal, to unite the community and erase racial lines.



Official cause of death has not yet been determined, according to Lincoln County coroner Clay McMorris, and the Mississippi State Department of Health has not yet officially listed his death in the data released for Lincoln County.


“Everybody, before you go outside, or before you decide to go to your friend’s house make sure before you make that decision you know going outside that door could very well kill you, your children or your parents,” Edwards said.

Over the weekend, MSDH listed an additional two known cases of COVID-19 in Lincoln County, bringing the total to 18. The new state total as of Sunday at 6 p.m. is 1,738 confirmed cases and 51 deaths.

Mississippi is currently under state-wide stay at home orders issued by Gov. Tate Reeves. Executive Order 1466 went into effect on April 3 and has a projected end date of April 20.


Lincoln County sees its first COVID-19-related death - Daily Leader
Beloved Brookhaven barber dies of coronavirus, leaves legacy of hard work

 

So everyone that couldn't forego a crispy line up while they're supposed to be quarantined needs to be tested ...

 

shyt is unbelievably sad. Reminds me of that black bus driver that died in Chicago. This shyt is relentless and unforgiving. I literally feel like we’re living a real life horror movie. RIP Black man. Was just trying to earn a living and survive

 

Stay home, please

 

As someone who is normally obsessed with cutting a weekly cut... its not just worth the exposure right now.

You aint even going anywhere so just chill and save a little money i guess

RIP tho

 

RIP. He was only trying to help people and paid the ultimate price for it. People better learn to do for themselves. We are in it for the long run, months not weeks.

 

People gotta stop finding reasons to break quarantine. Who knows how many people he could have infected going house to house.

 

ppl think this is a game

 

Well damn!

My girl cuts my hair.

I stopped fukking with barbers and their filthy clippers long ago.

Rest easy to the breh though.

 

fukk RIP

 

That situation is TERRIBLE with the driver. He made videos and everything explaining his situation and died.

Had to have been a really shytty feeling knowing why you’re dying...

 

Barbers have to earn a living. They're not turning down extra cash via house call.

 

Sad.

We’re losing good people due to this mess.

 

Very sad but I said it before and will say it again the people who still don't get it won't until it hits home at this point.

 

Went to the shop about a week and a half ago...

heard a different barber talking about how he thinks he had this shyt in December

I hit the and and decided it’s not worth it anymore to risk it