Week 45: #52 Ancestors – Bearded
By Eilene Lyon
I don’t recall when I first saw some version of the image above of my grandfather, Everett Halse, but as a child, it stuck in my mind that he was a bearded man. This, despite the fact that every other photo of Grandpa showed him clean-shaven. I never met Grandpa, because he had his third, fatal heart attack six months before I was born.
My relatives eventually corrected my misperception. Everett cultivated this beard for a pioneer days contest. It was probably the one and only time in his life that he grew out his facial hair!
As you can clearly see, Everett Halse was not a bearded man.
(All photos courtesy of S. Halse)
Myricopia 
Had to laugh at opening pic because I thought my phone cracked. Oh the effect of Pioneer Days on me today.
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Adds another “angle” to the title!
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Good one!!!!
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😊
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What a fun way of looking at your ancestry: the bearded man who wasn’t.
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That photo really tripped me up as a kid.
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Haha! Funny how just one image can stick in our heads!
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It really did for some reason!
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He looks so different with the beard, so that may be why!
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Maybe so. It might also have been the first image of him that I recalled seeing.
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Love the overalls! I have a photo of my grandfather, who I never met, wearing them, and when they were in style again in the 80’s, my grandmother remarked. those remind me of your grandfathers. I do wish the current fad for beards on men would go away – I much prefer the clean-shaven look.
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As for beards, for me the face beneath it matters. I’ve always preferred my husband with facial hair. Right now he wears it goatee style. I’ve always like overalls, but never had a pair that fit me right.
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There are so many misperceptions about our families that come to light when we actually sit down to go through the history. It’s a shame that you never got to meet your granddad. My paternal grandfather died before I was born as well.
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At least I did get to know the other three grandparents pretty well; they all lived into their 80s and 90s.
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My first impression was that he would have made a great Santa Claus.
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I asked my uncle if Grandpa won the contest, but he couldn’t recall. It seems to me I’d heard he did, but who knows?
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For someone who went beardless, he really did rock the beard when he was cultivating it.
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Grandma must not have liked it very much! Maybe Grandpa didn’t either. I wonder why he decided to participate?
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Maybe it was the equivalent of what we do now with Movember? LOL
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My grandfather had an old photo hanging on the wall in his den from when he grew a beard for Pioneer Day. I didn’t recognize him in the photo and asked, “Why does Grandad have a picture of Mitch Miller on his wall?”
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😂😂😂 Great question!
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Great old photos. I have sort of the opposite story. My dad grew a beard when he was already in his seventies, having never had one before. He kept it til the day he died at 92. So for probably twenty years he had a beard. But if someone asked me to describe him, I would probably never mention the beard because my memory of him is from when he was younger and clean-shaven.
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Must have decided late in life that he was sick and tired of shaving!
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That is EXACTLY what he said!
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My dad grew a beard for the first time in his life when he was nearly 80 — it was for a centennial celebration in his hometown. Only then did I realize my dad would have made a great Santa! 🙂
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Did he keep it after that?
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Nope! Shaved it as soon as the celebration was over! (My mom’s request) 😄
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Somehow doesn’t surprise me!
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It’s strange how childhood memories are formed, isn’t it? One of my great-uncles was married to a woman who performed as a clown (she was called Twinkles – I don’t even remember her real name), and they lived in Florida, so I only met her once. I remember she made balloon animals and did some weird clown magic for me, and even though she wasn’t actually wearing clown makeup at the time, every time I picture her, it’s as a clown – I genuinely don’t remember what she actually looked like. I think I was so terrified of clowns that once someone told me she was a clown, that’s all I could see when I looked at her, and I was on edge for her entire visit. My great uncle was strange too, so it was just a weird experience all around!
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what fun! btw, he looks like Santa with that beard :))
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He does seem to have a bit of that Santa sparkle, doesn’t he?
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😀👌💜
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I love this story! Isn’t it funny how easily these misperceptions can happen to kids? Love all the pictures!
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It’s like how big everything seems when you’re little and you revisit places and they shrank terribly in the interim.😂 Or my perception that the mermaids in the Disneyland submarine ride were real – then to go back as an adult and see they are little plastic things spinning on a post. Oh my, the disillusionment!
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Yes! Some places seemed so large and magical in my childhood memories. Often these are the places best left to our youthful imaginations and not revisited.
There’s nothing like ruining a good memory with a healthy dose of reality.
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Well put, Brandi!
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Reatha and Everett were a handsome couple! I always assume that when a couple has a bunch of kids, they must really love each other.
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I believe they had a very happy relationship. Reatha was a widow for a very long time and she would tell me that Everett was the love of her life and no one else could compare to him.
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