Beverly Price did not chuckle.
She didn’t snicker or giggle or titter or cover her mouth.
No. This woman laughed. A full-throated, no-holds-barred laugh. You know that laugh that makes a stand-up comic stop mid-routine and point appreciatively at the audience member doing it? Yeah, hers was one of those laughs.
Triggering it didn’t take much. Maybe the dog did something funny. Or the cat leaped into her lap unannounced. Or a grandkid stepped a little too close to the line of propriety. Or the love of her life delivered one of those lines he knew – like only those rare, longtime married couples can know – would hit her just right.
Se laughed. Oh, how she laughed.
That laugh endures, even on the saddest of days. Beverly Price passed away on January 13, 2024, but all who knew her will still hear that laugh today, tomorrow and always. They’ll still sense the kindness, that warmth, that defined her. And they’ll have a hard time finding any photos of her where she isn’t smiling.
Bev savored every minute she was given on this planet, and she would insist that we did the same. So we will count the blessings she gave us: three children, seven grandchildren and a husband who’s still wondering how he got so lucky.
Priorities are a funny thing. Encouraged by a mutual friend to ask Bev out a half-century ago, a 17-year-old Robert Price decided to wait until after football season. Priorities, you see.
But then they talked on the phone…and talked…and talked. They dated. They married in 1974.
And for the next 49 years, he had one priority above all others.
So did she. Those who knew Bev will tell you there was no more trusted friend, no more devoted wife, no more caring mother. If Robert had a Marine Corps function at 4 a.m., she was up at 2:30, making him breakfast. If Bev was in charge of making the Thanksgiving feast, she devised a minute-by-minute prep plan a week in advance, then executed it to perfection. She ran her family like a business, with fiscal responsibility and a growth mindset for everyone under her watch.
She aimed to please – and did. While never forgetting to laugh.
The daughter of Calvin H. Bell and Mary Ellen (Borland) Bell, Beverly Price is survived by her husband, Robert; three children Tim, Jennifer and Sara; and seven grandchildren Amy, Aubrey, Austin, Casey, Hannah, Nikki and Darla.
