Charles Taylor Bernard

Charles Taylor Bernard: (September 10, 1927 - June 27, 2015). The late Charles Taylor Bernard would tell you that his life was full of Amazing Grace, his favorite gospel song. He never ceased feeling blessed by or singing the praises of his five children, all who survive him, Sallie Hill Armstrong (Reno, Nev., husband, Robert), Mary Troy Johnston (Kauai, Hawaii), Charles Taylor Bernard Jr. (Memphis, Tenn., wife, Elaine), David Wesley Bernard (Birmingham, Ala., wife, Virginia Caris), and John Harbert Bernard (Atlanta, Ga., wife, Mary Reynolds), or the praises of his seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He always shared his adventurous spirit and passion for living life to the fullest with his family. As a younger father, he hiked and hunted in the Ozarks with his children in tow. At the age of 75, he hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with all the men in his family - his sons, grandsons, and sons-in-law. At the ripe old age of 82, he completed a seven mile combination kayak tour and trail to the waterfall in the Wailua River Valley on Kauai. He spent his childhood in Earle, Arkansas, where his name is inscribed in the sidewalk at the elementary school with the class of 1945. At Baylor University, he discovered the works of poet, Robert Browning. Throughout his life, he very much heeded the poet's words: "---Dream? strive to do, and agonize to do. And fail in doing." Upon graduation from Baylor, he felt deeply the call of his older parents to return to the family cotton farm and gin operation, although, as he would admit later, his sights were elsewhere. Earle, at the height of the cotton industry, had five operating cotton gins, given that it was so closely located to Memphis where cotton was shipped down river. He and his dear friend, "Sully" Carter from Marion, Arkansas, were often overheard discussing ginning in the day. Both men enjoyed exchanging tales about working through the night to finish the trailers lined up in the yard before "they got rained on" and the "dangers of gin fires". A 1960s-1970s era Republican politician, a rare party affiliation for the time, he and his wife, Betty Hill Bernard, championed civil rights, working not only to make elections "free and fair" with the introduction of voting machines but also attempting to break down race barriers in a segregated state. In a 1968 race for the U.S. Senate, he polled more than forty percent of the vote against J. William Fulbright, more than any of the distinguished senator's other opponents. As governor of California, Ronald Reagan visited Charles Bernard when he was chair of the Arkansas Republican Party to stump for candidates. From the mid-1980s until his death, he devoted his life to family and his long-term and adored partner, Jaynie Moon, and her family with whom he explored the wonders of Maui, Hawaii and Naples, Florida. After leaving politics, his speechifying turned into joke telling around the campfire, with his family begging him to tell their favorites over and over again. He always remained a combination of a small town boy and larger than life figure, making himself big enough for any challenge, but always remaining a true Southern gentleman. Chief, as his family knew him, has now gone on to the realm Browning imagined: "On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven a perfect round." In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Regional One Health Foundation (online at http://www.regionalonehealthfoundation.org or by check mailed to Regional One Health Foundation, 877 Jefferson Ave, Memphis, Tenn. 38103) in memory of Charles T. Bernard. The family expresses their gratitude to the providers at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis for their skilled and compassionate care for our father in his final days. Because the family is so far-flung, a private memorial service will be held at a later time when they can all gather together to remember and celebrate his amazing life.