Barber Billy Downey cuts Shane Quimby’s hair Thursday, the 50th anniversary of Downey’s Barber & Style Shop on Clay Street. Downey, 71, first worked in road construction, he said, but quickly realized it was not his style. He graduated from Hinds Community College’s barber school in 1959 and began working for Butler’s Barber Shop, downtown. In 1961, Downey opened his own shop at 2837 Clay St., and has been there since. Todd Downey, his son, is taking barber classes and the plan is for him to run the shop once his father retires. “I told him to go over there and get his diploma and come back over here and I’d teach him to cut hair,” Downey said.