Social - November 2003

Colvards celebrate half a century

Couple’s marriage marked with road trips, adventures and hobbies

By DIANE TURBYFILL, Staff Writer

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Their marriage, careers and family characterize Ruth and Frank Colvard as committed conquerors.

The couple celebrate their 50th year of marriage Saturday.

“You’ve got to give and take. She tells me what she wants to do and I take it,” Frank jokes.

The kitchen erupts in laughter. Frank and Ruth sit at the table with their daughters, Terry Rhyne and Tammy Hawn.

The family leafs through photo albums of their travels and reflect on their recent cruise to Alaska. The family trip makes the 50th state Ruth and Frank have visited in their 50 years of marriage.

They’ve traveled the country in cars, sometimes pulling campers — stopping to buy bumper stickers, ride donkeys and dodge an occasional tornado.

Frank remembers barely missing a twister while traveling through Mississippi.

“We were under the bridge when it went over,” he says.

The near-miss marks only one of their many adventures. The couple began taking trips in the 60s when their children were little. Their first major trip was a five-week jaunt out west. Their destination — Beal Air Force Base where Terry was born. But their destination included visiting 30 states on the round trip.

The Colvards hooked the camper to the back of their 1967 Galaxy Ford and hit the open road. Bumper stickers littered the back windshield, commemorating each state visited.

“That’s the biggest mistake we made was not taking the back glass out of the window when we sold that camper,” says Tammy.

By the end of the trip, the family had seen the Red Wood Forest, part of Mexico, Yellowstone Park and numerous places off the beaten path.

Frank says the back roads are avenues to adventure.

“Well, you can’t see nothing on the interstate,” he says.

The family laughs and tells tales about their adventures as far away as California and as nearby as the mountains and the beach. But Frank and Ruth have taken on plenty of conquests without the children.

Once their daughters started families of their own, the couple continued to travel.

“They’ll take off,” says Terry. “They’ll say, ‘We don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but we’ll call you.’”

Frank recalls a memorable trip in 1997. The couple journeyed to the Grand Canyon. They rode donkeys for 10 hours into the canyon, camped, then rode out an additional seven hours. Frank laughs when picturing his wife’s short legs trying to straddle the mule.

“Now that’s a trip she won’t forget,” he says, describing the bruises she earned.

“She could hardly walk she was so sore,” Tammy adds.

Not all of the couple’s adventures have happened outside of Lincoln County.

In his spare time, Frank is a creator. He has built a houseboat, an RV, playhouses and a steeple for Roseland Baptist Church. The craftsman held strong to his sense of humor and adventure all the while.

“He actually straddled the steeple as they were putting it on the church,” says Terry.

While Frank built creations and worked for Carolina Freight, Ruth cooked for her family and numerous functions and served as the church’s treasurer for 40 years.

Their hard work has paid off.

“We’ve been so fortunate,” says Ruth. “Frank’s worked hard. I’ve worked hard, and we’ve saved money,” she says.

Ruth and Frank met on a church bus. She was 13; he was 14. Ruth says he proposed in a letter years later. Franks says it’s hard to remember who did the proposing. Their elopement to Gaffney, S.C. took a trial run.

“I chickened out,” Frank says. “It took me another week before I got the nerve.”

Despite the first failed attempt and the wild mishaps on the road, the couple stays strong and looks forward to a year a little closer to home.

“Mama said we’re staying home this year and exploring North Carolina,” Frank says.

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Diane Turbyfill can be reached at 704-735-3031 or dianeturbyfill@ltnews.com.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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