LITTLE ROCK — In the first few words they exchanged, Sharon Woodward informed Clyde Beard that she was brushing her teeth. Three months later, their toothbrushes were hanging side by side.
Sharon’s aunt was married to Clyde’s longtime friend, and Clyde was in England visiting him while on leave from the U.S. Army. He would have to be back at Fort Wolters, near Mineral Springs, Texas, in just a couple of weeks, but his friend set up a blind date with Sharon while he was in town.
On Oct. 24, 1962, Sharon’s aunt gave Clyde her niece’s phone number and he called to meet her.
“I was brushing my teeth at the time that he called from my aunt and uncle’s before he came over,” says Sharon, who was 17. “And he said, ‘What are you doing’ and I said, ‘Brushing my teeth.’ That was the first time I talked to him.”
Clyde was a bit surprised by her candid answer, but he laughed and said he would be at her house to pick her up soon.
“I went up there and I got out of the car, and that’s where I lost it,” Clyde says.
“She was leaning against the inside of the door sill when I got there and I went up and saw that little red-headed gal, and that was it.”
Sharon was mesmerized by Clyde, too, with his light brown crewcut and “winning smile.”
They rode around England that night with Sharon’s aunt and uncle, talking in the back seat about all the things they had in common.
They went out a few times before Clyde had to report back for duty, and then they started writing daily letters to one another. Clyde made the 480-mile trip back to England to visit Sharon as often as he could, taking her for drives around town or to the Dairy Queen in true small-town dating fashion.
On their third date, Clyde used the phrase, “when we get married ….”
“I can’t remember what made me say that,” he says. “We were just talking. Really I was fishing then, because I thought she felt about me like I felt about her. It just seemed like we had known each other forever.”
Sharon took it from there.
“The next date or so I said, ‘Well, when are we going to get married?’” she laughs. “We were very blunt with each other.”
With that - on their fourth date - they were engaged.
They were wed Dec. 21, 1962, in a Methodist churchacross the street from Sharon’s parents’ home in England.
The original plan was for them to marry on Dec. 22, and Clyde’s parents were going to attend.
“We were going to have a small wedding there in the church,” says Sharon. “I was very nervous, so we talked about it and we decided that we would get married on the 21st instead of the 22nd.”
Her aunt and uncle were their witnesses.
“Our honeymoon was no honeymoon, really,” she says.
After their wedding, they went to Monticello to tell his family they were already married.
“They didn’t get to be there for the wedding,” she says. “I was so young and so nervous that I really didn’t care what anyone thought, but then I think it may have upset them a little.”
Clyde, then 23, had to report back to Fort Wolters after their wedding and Sharon needed to stay in England and finish high school.
“We decided no way - we could not do that. We couldn’t be apart,” she says. “He came back a couple of weeks later and got me and we went to Texas.”
Clyde was prepared. By the time he had come back for their wedding, he had already talked to a landlord about an apartment in Texas.
They lived in Mineral Wells for about six months, and when Clyde got out of the Army they moved to England. In 1964, they moved to Clyde’s hometown, Monticello, which they still call home.
The Beards have two children - Darwin Beard of Monticello and Dedra Ashworth of Gravel Ridge. They also have two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Clyde can’t say he would have been thrilled if either of his children decided to marry such a short time after meeting someone.
“If I could have seen the same look in their eyes that we had in ours, I would have been OK with it,” he says.
Sharon says some people laughed at their plans to marry so fast.
“We were young and in love. There have been good times and bad times and all,” she says. “We’ve battled a few storms but we’ve made it through it.”My advice for a long happy marriage is:
She says:
“Be committed. There’s the good, there’s the bad and there’s the ugly in all of them, I think, if people are honest.”
He says:
“You can argue a little bit but then just go ahead and say OK. You just don’t argue with a redhead.” On our wedding day, before we exchanged our vows, I was thinking:
She says:
“’Til death do us part, hopefully.”
He says:
“I’m going to have me a wife. I was 23 years old - I didn’t think I was going to get married. You know, back then, 23 was pretty old.” My favorite memory from our courtship was:
She says:
“When he would get there on his little weekend passes.”
He says:
“On the fourth date when she said, ‘Well, when are we going to get married ?’”If you have an interesting how-wemet story or know someone who does, please call (501) 378-3496 or e-mail:
High Profile, Pages 39 on 06/20/2010