She’s been described as looking like a sweet grandmother, so it’s shocking to hear Mary Kay Beard talk about having been on the FBI’s most wanted list.
Beard, who lives in Birmingham, made her seventh visit to Judson College in Marion on Sept. 25 to speak to students, faculty and staff.
Raised in Missouri, Beard never missed church as a child and teenager.
“I guess I never questioned this,” she said. “I hear parents talking about giving their children options as far as church attendance, but I never thought to ask if we had an option. Mama told us we would go every time the doors were open.”
Beard memorized Scripture and taught Sunday School as a young adult.
Because she didn’t get along with her alcoholic father, Beard left home to attend nursing school as a teenager. But her life took a new turn when she agreed to a blind date. She married less than two weeks later, not knowing her new husband, an entertainment promoter, was an ex-con, bank robber and gambler.
“I had nice things and plenty of money,” Beard said. “But as the Bible says, ‘we deceive ourselves.’ I knew what I was doing was wrong.” Later her husband abandoned her and Beard continued her life of lawlessness.
After her arrest, Beard faced the possibility of spending the rest of her life in jail.
“I was wanted in four states and had 35 warrants,” she said.
Through the influence of a number of Christians who taught Sunday School in the Jefferson County jail in Birmingham, Beard gave her life to Christ.
“I was so hardened due to my lifestyle, I knew that any changes would have to be an ‘inside job,’” she said. “And that’s what the Bible promises. God said He would take away our ‘stony heart’ and put His spirit in us.” She was sentenced to 21 years in prison and sent to the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka. There she took courses at Auburn University and was paroled after serving five and a half years. She said her release was a miracle since the law specified inmates had to serve seven years before being considered for parole and because she’d never met with the parole board.
Beard went to work for Prison Fellowship in 1982 and that same year founded the Angel Tree program, which provides gifts for children of inmates at Christmas. Angel Tree operates in all 50 states and in 45 countries. Beard published her autobiography, “Rogue Angel,” in 2005.
“I knew all the answers but didn’t really know the way to God until I was in jail,” she said. “Now I have the privilege of traveling the nation and talking about how God changes our hearts.” She is the founder of Encourager Ministries in Birmingham. The website is marykaybeard.com.
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