A firefighter and barber, Roger Eckart was one of Southern Indiana's first COVID-19 victims

A retired firefighter and a barber, Roger Eckart touched many lives in the Southern Indiana towns of New Albany and Jeffersonville.

“Anybody who met Roger was a friend,” said Richard Duggins, who worked alongside Eckart at the New Albany Fire Department. “Roger was so outgoing and friendly. Being a barber, they like to talk.”

Family and friends are mourning the loss of Eckart, who died Tuesday at Baptist Health Floyd Hospital at the age of 78. According to an obituary posted by Naville & Seabrook Funeral Homes, Eckart died “of apparent COVID-19,” making him one of the the area's first known victims of the coronavirus pandemic.

Born in Louisville and a 1960 graduate of Georgetown (Indiana) High School, Eckart became a master barber and cut hair for more than 50 years, mostly in Jeffersonville. He joined the New Albany Fire Department in 1972 and retired in 1997.

According to the obituary, “Roger loved to bowl at Blackiston Lanes with the senior league and to crappie fish at Patoka Lake. He also never turned down a chance to go to the casino at French Lick.”

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Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel said he met Eckart more than 30 years ago and visited him on a weekly basis for a haircut and lively conversation.

“He was a very good barber, an old-school barber,” Noel said. “He’d shave your neck with his straight razor. I would call Roger a gentle giant. He would tell you what was on his mind. …

“I’m usually a pretty quiet and reserved guy, and you could relate to Roger and talk to him about anything.”

Noel said Eckart liked to tease him about his job as sheriff.

“He’d joke with me, ‘How many people do you have in jail over there, sheriff, that think they shouldn’t be in there, and how many want out?’” Noel said. “Just typical jokes like that. … He talked a lot about fishing. I’m not a big fisherman, but he enjoyed that. And he had a pretty loyal following of people he barbered for — a lot of grandpas and fathers and kids.”

Duggins said Eckart became the fire department’s ladder truck driver in the early 1990s and was protective of the truck’s air horn that was attached to the ceiling by a chain.

“The first thing he told me was, ‘Do not touch that chain. That’s my job. Your job is to talk on the radio and hit the siren,’” Duggins said. “We firefighters like to agitate, so every once in a while I’d reach over for the chain, and he’d smack my hand.”

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Duggins said Eckart would cut hair during down time at the firehouse.

“He’d have it set up in the restroom where he could cut hair,” Duggins said. “In fact, he gave my son his first haircut back in 1982.”

Wes Perryman, 58, is a New Albany resident who said he got his first haircut from Eckart at the firehouse when he was “13 or 14 years old.”

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“He’d only take donations,” Perryman said. “He didn’t have a set price. He’d say, ‘Just leave some money in the box there and I’m good.’”

Eckart is survived by his wife of 55 years, Sharon Gregory Eckart, his sister, Veneda Eckart Keithley, and dog, Pogo.

Noel said Eckart’s death should serve “as a gentle reminder” to the community about the dangers of COVID-19.

“Keep your distance 6 feet, wash your hands, try not to touch your face,” Noel said. “Obviously, someone transmitted that to Roger. I think some people finally now are starting to see how serious this pandemic is. … If people had the mindset that, ‘This couldn’t happen to me,’ well, it can.”

Funeral arrangements will be private and have been entrusted to the Naville & Seabrook Funeral Homes. 

Expressions of sympathy may be made in Rogers’ name to Edwardsville United Methodist Church, WHAS Crusade for Children, the Floyd County Animal Rescue League or another charity.

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/jasonf.