Dwight was born March 26, 1950, to Mattie Crawford Beard and Howard Albert Beard in Birmingham, Alabama. He attended Underwood Elementary and Fairfield Junior High School and graduated from Fairfield High School in 1968. Dwight joined the Air Force in 1972 where he served for 10 years. He graduated from University of Alabama at Birmingham. He retired from AT&T (formerly Bell South) where he worked for over 30 years. He was employed by Pradco, a division of Ebsco industries, until his passing.
Dwight loved life, his family, his church, and his friends. He was affectionately known to many as “Big”, which was an accurate adjective for his height and his amazing presence. He will most certainly leave a BIG void in our hearts. He loved going on vacation with family, hunting, fishing, going to the beach, 60s music, and spending time with Fairfield High School classmates.
Dwight is predeceased by his parents Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Beard and his sister, Deborah Beard Wilson. Left to cherish his memories is his wife of 50 years, Georgia Veitch Beard, his sons and daughters-in-law, Jeffrey Wayne (Lisa), Bradley Michael (Megan), and Matthew Dwight, his grandchildren, Laura Faith, Emmett Grayson, Emory Lane, and Ellison Lynn, sister Janet Beard Farr, cousin, Margaret McCool, his nieces and nephews, and too many friends to count.
Serving as pallbearers are Karl Hager, Bobby Wilson, Bill Rorie, Karl Lundstrom, Todd Wilson, Keith Hager, and David Landrum.
The family is thankful for all the care and compassion given to Big during his illness during the past year including Dr. Daryl Outlaw and his nurse practitioner, Kayla, and the nurses at the UAB Acton Road Infusion Clinic as well as the nurses and staff at ExpectCare Hospice. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to PanCan.org to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research.
