Powell County ‘traveling barber’ remembered after hit-and-run

CLAY CITY, Ky. (FOX 56) — One person is dead, and another was arrested after a crash in Powell County.

According to Kentucky State Police, Ross Hicks, 42, was walking on Main Street in Clay City near the Dairy Queen last night when he was hit and killed by a car.

The driver, Alyson Martin, 25, initially drove off but was later found and arrested by police. Martin faces several charges, including vehicular homicide, DUI, and leaving the scene of an accident. She was booked into the Montgomery County Regional Jail.

Now, a Powell County community is left to mourn the loss of a beloved father and friend.

FOX 56 spoke with the people who knew Hicks best. They said his death is nothing short of a tragedy. They said he was full of love and life and that he strived to make the world a better place one haircut at a time.

“He cut everybody’s hair,” said Bobby Barnes.

Hicks held several titles in life—son, father, and friend, to name a few—but perhaps the one he’s most widely known for in Powell County is the “traveling barber.”

His friends say Hicks spent many days traveling from one house to the next, cutting hair.

“For him, it was more so about the relationships than it was a job,” said Allen Martin, a client and friend.

Martin described Hicks as a great man who had a special way of inspiring the next generation, including his own children.

“He always had a really good relationship with the kids, and I think it’s because that’s the kind of personality he had,” said Martin. “It was just a fun-loving type of environment.”

The Barnes family watched him grow up, and they said they couldn’t be prouder of the man he became.

“And he really had so much going for him,” said Barnes. “And he was looking forward to life with these kids and his boys. And it’s just so sad.”

To his three sons, he wasn’t just a super barber; he was also a terrific dad.

“We got to go see movies a lot, and we got to play, and he was just funny, and he was amazing,” said one of his sons, Colten Hicks.

“He fully loved these kids like no other,” added Kristina Hicks, the mother of his children.

Although they were no longer a couple, Kristina said the children she shares with Ross are their world, and the boys loved their dad.

“How do you tell an 11, a nine, and a 6-year-old that something like that occurred?”

She said he just visited them hours before the accident, spending quality time with his sons while cutting their hair.

“They got happy times before this tragedy took place,” said Kristina. “And I am forever thankful that he did get to come cut their hair, spend a little time with them, tell them something that his grandpa always told him. Always sharing stories.”

Hicks’s friends and family are heartbroken over the sudden loss but say his memory will live on through his sons and countless lives he’s touched.

“He was very loved and he will be very missed,” said Sheila Barnes.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Hicks’s family with funeral expenses. Click here to donate.