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  • Writer's pictureKaren Anita Davis

This is My Story: Sweet Carol

"While there is life, there is hope."


She taught me the love of reading. She taught me the joy of singing. She was in some ways a "second mother" to me. She died Tuesday, January 7, 2020 at the age of 86. Funny how we will measure a life by the number of years. Not so, with my friend, my sister, my "second-mother" -- Carol Beardsley.


Miss Carol was my Bible school teacher when I was in the fifth grade and again when I was a high school and college student. She taught me the outright necessity of a walk with God in this life and a passion for his written word. She lived the life of serving her God through serving others. I can still see her standing in front of the class and sitting next to me on her couch in her home.


One room in her house was her library/reading room. She shared her books with me. She introduced me to one of my favorite espionage writers: Helen MacInnes and to Rex Stout, to Ellery Queen and Nero Wolfe. Miss Carol, a one-time hair stylist, cut Mother's, sisters' and my hair for many years. I remember the day she was cutting my very long hair that hung below my bottom-side to hang just above my shoulders. She was interrupted mid-task but a phone call. I looked pretty silly sitting in her kitchen/dining room with my left side hair at my shoulder and the right side still under my seated bottom. We had a few cooking classes in her home. I can recall watching her de-vein shrimp as she was teaching Mother to make egg rolls. Mother still makes them but she uses ground pork. She doesn't really care for shrimp or taking the time to de-vein them.


Miss Carol stood beside me when our little church family would travel to local nursing homes and the state mental hospital to sing to the residents. She helped me learn to sing soprano. My sister Kay stood beside Miss Betty (Carol's sister) they sang alto together. But, more than learning to sing my musical part, Miss Carol taught me the importance of the message of the songs and hymns we sang. To sing with passion for the message would also out-sing a missed note. Words, whether in a mystery novel or the lyrics of a song, were of most importance and value to Miss Carol.


Her words to me were laid on the foundation of my young life along side those of my Dad and Mother. Many times we discussed the current events in the world and what would be the future. I recollect her quote to me many times: "While there is life, there is hope."


Now, Miss Carol has left this world for a brighter, peaceful, and joy-filled abode. She is reunited with her dear husband, Mr. Bob (or "Himself" as he often called him) and her infant daughter, Patty. She lived her life within a blessed assurance of heaven. Thank God she shared her faith, her love, her life, her hope with this stringy, skinny kid although years ago.



Me, Miss Carol, Mother, Miss Betty, 2018


"This is my story."

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