Dade County History Book

BEVERLY J. HAWKINS (BETHUNE)

Born in 1962, the 5th of 6 children, I grew up in the rural community of New Home on Sand Mountain in Dade County. Some of my fondest memories during my childhood would include catching lightening bugs on hot summer nights, attending Vacation Bible School at New Home Baptist Church and staying overnight at mine and my younger sisters baby-sitter, Myrtle Hardeman. We always had such fun playing in her huge gardens and eating dishtubs of popcorn. Life as a child was simple and innocent growing up on that isolated mountain. I attended Davis School up until the 9th grade at which time the high school had consolidated with Dade County. I then attended the newly built Northwest Georgia High School. My school years were fairly typical, my grades were good and I was very active in the 4-H program let by Mrs. Gass and also was a basketball cheerleader for 2 years. After high school, I attended one year at Hiwassee College and returned home to join the Air Force in 1983. My 8 years in the military took to me to various places in the world which I shall always remember. I lived 4 years in Mildenhall, England and worked as an Electronic Intelligence Operations Specialist – a long title which basically involved analyzing intelligence data collected from various sources. This tour gave me an opportunity to visit places such as Denmark, Belgium, and Holland. My next assignment took me to Tucson, Arizona flying as an Electronic Warfare crewmember on the EC-130 aircraft. I was deployed to United Arab Emirates for 4 months in support of Desert Shield/Storm. This experience of living in tents and eating meals from pouches was enough to make me realize I was ready to go back to civilian life. Later, I married an Air Force pilot from Ft Walton Beach, Florida and therefore have not left the military completely. Carter and I now live in Cabot, Arkansas and have a beautiful 2 year old son, Joshua. I am employed by the US Postal Service and Carter recently returned from 3 months in Germany in support of the Bosnian Peace effort. We go home to Sand Mountain as often as our schedules permit and my family and I always enjoy these visits home.

BEVERLY J. HAWKINS (BETHUNE)