My husband worked for two months in Japan in the Winter of 1997, during our fade out. While he was gone he grew a beard, and it looked great. He is a redhead, so the beard was full and red, and well groomed. When he returned we still attended meetings about once a week. At the first one, there was a mixed reaction to the beard. Some loved it and some hated it. Most assumed he would shave it off soon.
Over the years many of the brothers who worked in construction, would go to Alaska to work (we live in Washington State, so it was common to go there for part time work for a few weeks or a month or two). They would all come back with a beard, saying everyone in Alaska has a beard. That may be, but it isn't true at the KH, as we learned later from people who would move here from Alaska. Anyway, they would come to the KH with the beard, and after a week or two they would shave it off. No one at the KH saw it as a big deal, and it was tolerated because they WOULD shave later on.
Dave kept his for several months. We went to a large get together, with several congregations a few months later, and one of his old friends from his teen years, came up and chastised him about the beard. She was an old close friend, a sister, and a long time pioneer. She also happened to be the one who studied with him when their family was coming in back in 1960. I guess she felt she had the right to tell him to get rid of it. He just smiled and told her he was going to keep it. She was visibly pissed!
He shaved it during the Summer, saying it was hot and itched. He grew another one a few years ago and kept it for many years, but shaved last year. I like his looks better without, but he did look good. It was getting pretty gray, and people told him he would look younger without it. That was all he needed.
This photo was taken almost two years ago, with our two eldest sons. They are tall!
