President Tim Beard poses with 60 cards sent to him by friends , faculty and staff on his 60th birthday in 2020 .
Leadership Powered by Faith , Family and Education
By Carmine Bell , Ph . D ., PHSC Professor Emerita
When Tim Beard drew his first breath on Valentine ’ s Day 1962 , in Port St . Joe , Florida , multiple generations of Beards had already survived severe hardship by relying on faith and family . These two forces , described by Tim ’ s friend Attorney Avery McKnight as “ twin sides of praying hands ,” are the foundation of the president ’ s happiness and success — and an inexhaustible source of strength and joy .
One of eight children — seven boys and one girl — Tim grew up in Port St . Joe , where his father , Roosevelt Beard , employed 44 years as a full-time supervisor for the Port St . Joe Public Works Department , worked additional jobs , sometimes two or three , to provide for the family . Mother Dorothy Faison Beard was a telephone operator , but her calling was music . A talented musician who gave lessons in her home on a hand-me-down piano , she served as music minister of the family ’ s church and provided music for many other churches . Dorothy taught her children to appreciate music , and most learned to play the piano . Sister Veronica Beard Barrington says all the Beard children were musically inclined , and Brother Terrell Beard once played six instruments until he lost an arm in an industrial accident . Tim ’ s curiosity about the piano motivated him , at age five , to walk , literally , on its ivory
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keys in his birthday suit . Roosevelt did not hold back in dispensing love or discipline to his children , in this case , the latter .
The Beard family lived in a three-room “ shotgun ” style house , a narrow , single-story home with each room placed directly behind the other and no hallways . The five oldest boys slept in one bed . Even today , Terrell still sleeps on the edge of the bed . Tim ’ s sister Veronica believes that the cramped space kept the family closer and helped the kids understand their parents ’ insistence on sharing . In fact , the siblings shared clothing and , when old enough to drive , one vehicle . Private property was a foreign concept in the Beard household , but the Beard children never felt poor . Roosevelt and Dorothy were never too busy to spend time with their children at home .
Tim Beard , age six , first grade at Washington Elementary School in 1968