{"id":37202,"date":"2021-05-24T00:45:42","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T00:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/24\/fire-guts-marine-veterans-north-carolina-business\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:39:22","slug":"fire-guts-marine-veterans-north-carolina-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2021\/05\/24\/fire-guts-marine-veterans-north-carolina-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire guts Marine veteran\u2019s North Carolina business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minnie Ervin sat quietly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/05\/19\/why-the-corps-future-may-sideline-its-ground-pounders\/\" target=\"_blank\">inside a car Wednesday morning<\/a> watching as Winston-Salem firefighters made sure that the fire that had just destroyed a lifetime of work had been extinguished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her grown children, Rosa Ervin Adams and Jakay Ervin Jr., stood nearby waiting on an insurance adjuster and greeting well-wishers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEverybody got out OK,\u201d Ervin Adams said<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/marine-corps-times\/2021\/01\/26\/chess-during-downtime-how-the-corps-wants-to-increase-thinking-in-marine-infantry\/\" target=\"_blank\"> to a friend <\/a>who had called her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The family business, Ervin\u2019s Beauty Services on Patterson Avenue, had been in place since 1976 when Minnie and Jakay Sr. converted by hand an old gas station into a community icon \u2014 a thriving beauty-supply business\/hair salon where generations of women, including the late Dr. Maya Angelou and longtime Councilwoman Vivian Burke, came to have their hair done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The business had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2020\/09\/23\/reshape-from-within-how-berger-plans-to-transform-the-marine-corps-without-a-budget-increase\/\" target=\"_blank\">gutted by fire<\/a>; it was an economic setback and a devastating loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/05\/19\/why-the-corps-future-may-sideline-its-ground-pounders\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6595602.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Why the Corps\u2019 future may sideline its ground-pounders<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Is it the twilight of Marine infantry?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But within minutes of listening to Minnie Ervin speak, it became apparent that the story of Ervin\u2019s Beauty Services is much deeper than structure fire. It\u2019s really a love story about the life Minnie and Jakay Ervin shared for 65 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe drew up the plans himself and built a lot of it with his own two hands,\u201d Minnie Ervin said. \u201cHe\u2019s worth talking about. I love talking about him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>A true family business <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To understand fully the story of Ervin\u2019s Beauty Services, it\u2019s necessary to know something about Minnie and Jakay Ervin Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They met when Jakay was a student at Winston-Salem Teachers College. Minnie Ervin was riding on a homecoming float; she was Miss Lemay Beauty College. \u201cHe told a friend, \u2018I have to meet her,\u2019\u201d Minnie Ervin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jakay Ervin Sr. was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, serving during the Korean War era. He\u2019d dropped out of high school, got drafted and badly hurt his knee when a Jeep flipped over during training. The injury prevented him from being sent to Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That military experience, as it can, sharpened a young man\u2019s focus. So he went back to high school as soon as he mustered out. After that, it was on to Winston-Salem State \u2014 while working a fulltime job at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco \u2014 for his bachelor\u2019s in 1958 and N.C. A&amp;T State University for graduate school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He and Minnie married in 1955; Jakay Ervin Sr. settled into a job with the U.S. Postal Service and Minnie Ervin worked as a hairdresser. A family followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Opportunity knocked in the mid-\u201970s when that old gas station on Patterson Avenue went up for sale, and the Ervins answered it together \u2014 all four of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI laid that brick up there,\u201d said Jakay Ervin Jr., pointing to the foundation just visible behind a pile of burned, wet pink insulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ervin Adams wasn\u2019t exempt, either. She was expected to do her share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was more than growing up there,\u201d said Ervin Adams. \u201cDaddy believed in hard work. I helped tear up the old flooring. I was old enough to know that maybe I should have run off to grandma\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ervin Adams was joking, of course. But she and her brother learned the value of an honest day\u2019s work and trusting their faith. They got that by watching the partnership burgeon between their parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI love (the business),\u201d Minnie Ervin said while watching firefighters put away their gear. \u201cI love people. I\u2019ve loved coming to work for more than 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Long, difficult year <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minnie Ervin was on her way to the shop about 8:30 a.m. when she learned that the building was burning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An employee had been working with an early-bird customer when they heard a loud pop and smelled smoke \u2014 a telltale sign of an electrical short. The fire likely started in or near the salon; the Ervins had closed the beauty-supply end of the business a few years back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It burned fast, and required several trucks and more than a dozen firefighters to knock down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were getting ready to remodel and lease part of the building,\u201d Minnie Ervin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s been a long, difficult year for the Ervin family. COVID-19 restrictions took a bite out of the business. That hurt, but it was a mere annoyance compared to the loss of Jakay Ervin Sr. who died on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was 89 and had enjoyed a full, rich and love-filled life. He was a proud Marine, featured in a 2019 story about local veterans, and a talented carpenter. \u201cHe built part of our house,\u201d Minnie Ervin said. \u201cWe have a cathedral ceiling and he hung that first beam by himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wednesday\u2019s fire destroyed photographs and irreplaceable keepsakes. The loss was as profound as it was unexpected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s not easy to speak clearly in the immediate aftermath of such a physical tragedy. Onlookers and a small stream of friends and acquaintances drifted by as the news spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the Ervins handled it all with grace. They haven\u2019t decided yet whether to rebuild; it\u2019s far too early to make that decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They were thankful that no one was hurt, and Minnie Ervin grateful for a temporary distraction of talking about her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has been a hard year,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was such an awesome man. So talented and so smart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A building burned Wednesday morning. But the fire, bad as it was, could not destroy the story of the people who\u2019d built it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jakay Ervin Sr. served during the Korean War era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":69,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[28,29,116,117,15,8395],"tags":[],"coauthors":[8434],"class_list":["post-37202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disaster","category-home","category-left-column","category-middle-column","category-news","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"X6JDEYXSH5DGDNY5VXNYFXLPRA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/05\/23\/fire-guts-marine-veterans-north-carolina-business\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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