It may not sound very unusual at first to learn that 70-year-old Navy veteran David Russey got a haircut Monday.  But the last time Mr. Russey had a haircut, he was 24.

"I'm allergic to barbershops," Russey quips.

"He's just a free spirit," explains Russey's wife, Sally Frances Russey, as a hair stylist began cutting away at the back of Russey's hair for the first time since 1962.

But before you think this is simply about a change of style, understand that David Russey enjoyed his hair long.  He had decided to make a personal sacrifice so someone else could enjoy his hair, too.

After much consideration, David decided to donate his long locks to "Locks of Love," a national non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to children under 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss.

With donations from thoughtful people like Mr. Russey, Locks of Love provides hairpieces to children around the nation who suffer from an autoimmune disorder called alopecia areata, which causes the hair follicles to shut down. Other recipients of hairpieces have been victims of severe burns, children who endured radiation treatment to the brain stem as a treatment for cancer, and children who suffer from any number of skin disorders that cause permanent hair loss.

Russey served as a Navy Photographer's Mate 3^rd Class from 1956 to 1963, serving in both South Korea and Vietnam, and he has been a resident at Clyde W. Cosper Texas State Veterans Home in Bonham since 2004.  The Cosper Veterans Home is one of seven State Veterans Homes in the state that provide long-term skilled nursing care to Texas veterans and their spouses.  Restorative aide Teresa Whitley has been telling the Navy veteran just how valuable his long, healthy hair would be to a child suffering from long-term hair loss. 

So, this really wasn't even a haircut as much as a very precious gift; something David had cherished since his early 20s, he was now freely giving to a stranger in need, a noble act from a stoic man that just smiled as the hair stylist whittled away.  Mr. Russey, a native of Sherman, is no stranger to difficulties of his own.  A stroke several years ago left David partially paralyzed.

"He can't do a lot for himself, so this is a magnanimous gesture to do this for someone else," his wife notes. 

Actually, a quick visit with Mrs. Russey makes it clear this was a gift from two people.  She liked her free spirit husband's long hair just the way it was.

A crowd gathered to watch their friend's hair get cut for the first time in almost a half century and most offered words of encouragement as the barber finished.

"Hey, you look great," several people said.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Mrs. Russey said quietly.

But there were smiles everywhere as the barber held up the severed ponytail, although no one may have enjoyed the moment more than David's mother-in-law, Sally Kellye.

"I've never seen his ears before," Mrs. Kellye said.

Don't be surprised if this scene plays out again in about three years when Russey's hair is long enough once more to donate and he hopes this example will inspire others to donate their hair to Locks of Love, too.

But, at least for now, it seems his allergy to barbershops has returned.