RCC creates new chapter, gives hope for local couple

“Everything happens for a reason,” Bobby Clark said, with his fiancé Rebecca Jones and daughter Miah sitting by his side. 

Bobby just recently graduated from RCC’s Barber Program and is currently working at an apprenticeship to get his license. Rebecca is working on completing her degree in cosmetology and should be finished soon. 

The two are as different as they are alike, fate they say brought them together.

“We were supposed to have met before we actually did,” Rebecca said. “My cousin had set us up, but we ended up not meeting that night.”

Bobby eventually found Rebecca on social media months later and the two hit it off. 

“I didn’t know she was the girl that I was supposed to have met that night,” Bobby said. 

“I was praying for a husband type, a homebody,” Rebecca said. “My prayer was answered the night we met.”

Overcoming the Past

Rebecca and Bobby have endured a great deal of tragedy in their lives, more than anyone ever should.

At a young age, Bobby witnessed his father murder his mother. It is a day he can never forget, saying his father acted “in the heat of the moment.”

“I testified against him in court,” Bobby told. “I haven’t seen him since the 9th grade.” 

Bobby is now 39 and Rebecca is 31.

Before meeting Bobby, Rebecca was involved in an abusive relationship that made her feel like her life was in danger every day.

“One time I didn’t know he was home; he came up after parking the car down the road, and he grabbed me from behind and slapped me,” Rebecca said. “My boys thought he was going to kill me.”

Rebecca’s experience is something that Bobby understands.

“He’s been good to me,” Rebecca says.  

Rebecca was able to escape from that relationship. Fortunately for her, that man is currently behind bars on other charges unrelated to her. Once he serves his time, he will be sent to South Carolina to serve out another sentence, which helps bring peace of mind to Rebecca.

 “Life is hard in Robeson County,” Rebecca said. “We have both been through a lot.”

Living in the Present 

Despite all their struggles, Rebecca and Bobby still have hope,and are living life to the fullest the best way they know how. Together they have one child, Miah, but Rebecca also has twin boys and Bobby has children from a previous marriage.

And that’s one reason they both decided to go back to school at Robeson Community College.

“We want to leave a legacy to our children,” Bobby said. “My young ins motivated me… I don’t know that they want to follow in my footsteps, but I want to be able to leave something to them.”

“Something good, not bad,” Rebecca added.

Bobby and Rebecca were always interested in cutting and styling hair, but at times it seemed like that dream was out of reach.

“I’ve always wanted to do hair,” Bobby said. “I grew up watching people cut hair.” 

“There was training for barbering in Spring Lake that was opening up, it was for 6-9 months but it was expensive,” Bobby said. “So, I went took a job in construction and that’s what I did.”

Many years would pass, but the desire to go to school and go into barbering would still knock on Bobby’s heart. Thanks to a therapist Bobby was seeing, his dream was able to come true.  

“Vocational Rehab helped me pay for school,” Bobby said. “It did a lot for me, paid for schooling, my test, and permit…. The Lumbee Tribe gave me gas money every two weeks… I thank God for that.”

Rebecca started out at RCC after high school with hopes of going into healthcare, but after giving birth to her twins, she left school and went to work full-time at UNCP in the cafeteria as a server.

“I was trying to find myself,” Rebecca said. “Doing hair always came naturally to me and it’s something that I always wanted to do… it was a destiny to me.”

The two enrolled in RCC and they say it was the best decision they could have ever made.  

“I wish RCC had the Barbering program when I graduated high school,” Bobby said. “Going to school helped make me a little wiser, a little more mature.”

“It spiritually, mentally, and emotionally motivated me and pushed me to the limit,” Rebecca said. “I didn’t have confidence before, but now since Mrs. Ransom, Mrs. Pingol, Mrs. Elliott, and Mrs. Oxendine has helped me, I have more confidence in myself and my abilities.”

“It was like another awakening, education has opened my eyes, I’ve been blessed,” Rebecca stated.

“Her patience got better too,” Bobby said as he laughed.

“He got more positive,” Rebecca added in response, with a smile.

The two agree that education is important, saying “Get your life right, and do it while you’re young, life changes you.” 

Celebrating the Future

As they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and Bobby and Rebecca took that first step when they enrolled at Robeson Community College.

“We cherish the life we are building together,” Rebecca says.

“We are looking forward to what the future holds,” stated Bobby.

With a hope and a future, the couple says they aspire to continue moving up in the barbering and cosmetology industry, and possibly opening up their own salon together one day, but only time will tell where their journey will take them next.

”To God be the Glory.”