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Mary Beadles listens to her husband talk about the olden days during a recent visit. The couple will be celebrating their 72nd wedding anniversary on Dec. 26. Staff photo by Don Wallace -
Gene and Mary Beadles in 1949 when they were married in Sulphur Springs.
After more than seven decades
Times have change drastically since this Hopkins County duo took their vows. But the changes have just made the relationship stronger.
When they were hitched in 1949, World War II ended in 1945 and Harry Truman was in the White House. You could buy at
You could buy at new pickup for $1,200 and gas was 27 cents a gallon.
And yes, Christmas is still as popular as it has been around the world for ages.
Mary and Gene Beadles are a match made for the holidays and Christmas is always part of the celebration.
On Dec. 26 they will celebrate their 72nd wedding anniversary. It’s been a match tested over time and enchanced with love and humor.
Gene, 92, still likes to tell about the dairy business and some people he went to school with decades ago at North Hopkins.
Mary listens intently to every word and is always around to help her husband recount the past.
To her, it is a great, romantic Christmas story which has lasted more than seven decades and a couple of changes in occupations while raising a family.
“I made sure everyone got a good present. That was a time I might have overspent. I always liked Christmas, it was just great and we decorated things up,” Mrs. Beadles said with a holiday sparkle in her eyes. “I guess I passed that on to our children. All three of my daughters love Christmas and they start decorating in November.”
Their daughters, Barbara, Sherry and Janice live in Texas. Barbara Carey in Channing; Sherry Norton lives in Manor and Janice Hansen in The Colony.
The relationship which has lasted through thick and thin, all started with a question back in the 40s.
Mary was walking around Sulphur Springs after going to the movies with her cousin. Gene stopped by and hollered out, “Are y’all from Yantis.” Neither was, it was a case of mistaken identity but a conversation started and soon a romance.
From a first date at the Lakeside Cafe, the fire of the romance was ignited.
They drank Cokes and rode around in a car he coowned with his brother.
About six months later, Gene and Mary said the “I dos” and were hitched not far from where they grew up in rural Hopkins County. The wedding vows exchanged in the Presbyterian Church in Downtown Sulphur Springs.
Gene had been in the Army, but came out to go into the dairy business and later operated a portable sawmill.
“We had a 400-acre dairy near Mahoney and it was a lot of work,” Mary said. “We just got to work. We stayed married so long because that’s what we were taught to do. Our parents stayed married for a long time and we went on with making a living. We didn’t have much at times, but we always had love and a great family.”
Gene must have liked the arrangement and the cooking, he stayed with the partnership for 70-plus years. He said he had no favorite meal, “I just ate it all, she’s a good cook and a good woman.”
Mary added, “It’s been a good life. We shared some good times and worked to make a living.”
Gene, who now lives in Wesley Oaks Memory Care Center, said he will celebrate Christmas with the family and then a day later mark the anniversary with his wife.
“I knew getting married the day after Christmas, we might not get much,” Mary Beadles said. “But I just love the season. If I wanted to get more presents we could have married in June, not the day after Christmas. I’m glad we did it when we did,”
Choosing Dec. 26 has worked like a Christmas charm for them and they hope to celebrate many more.