Along-time islander has announced she will be leaving Bowen and moving to the United States, her family's ancestral homeland. Grade 1 student Laura Frances Beaird, 6, an island resident since birth, said she'll be making the life-changing move at the end of this month.
In an exclusive interview with the Undercurrent at the Spacenet in the BICS playground earlier this week, the wonderfully loquacious Beaird confirmed she's taking parents Andy and Christy along with her, as well as her outstanding siblings, Benjamin, 4, and Virginia, 3.
"Of course they're coming with me!" she said. "We're all moving to Nashville, Tennessee."
A big contributor to Bowen, Laura Frances took part in island events and spent time with other Bowen kids at Family Place, Playcare, the Montessori school and Cates Hill Chapel, a huge part of her family's life here. She said she's looking forward to the many new challenges and opportunities she'll find in Nashville, even though she's not used to big cities.
"I think there's gonna be wild country music there because Nashville is really famous for country music," Beaird explained. "Even on the street corners there are people singing and playing music to get money and stuff. It'll be crazy."
Her parents are from Alabama (Mom) and Mississippi (Dad) but both her Grammas are from Nashville and she's visited the city. She's got family there now including four cousins, Langston, Payne, Tucker and Evelyn, all of whom she enjoys playing with.
Is she gonna miss us? Darn right.
"I will miss lots of the people like Jamie, Joey and Keelan and Finn, and other friends," she said. "I'm also gonna miss the parks and the school and ice-cream shops." She said her siblings will also miss people here and noted her brother really likes Poppy - a.k.a. the Poppy Star who he sometimes plays with.
"He'd like her to be his girlfriend," she claimed.
It's easy to find islanders who'll miss Laura Frances and family, the Derban family among them. Father Dwayne said all three children are "unique and fabulous kids" and that he always looks forward to the time the two families spend together. His daughter, Jamie, 13, is happy for the wonderful opportunity the Beairds have, but not so happy with the result.
"Well, I'm devastated really, it's devastating. They're so great and I've known them for so long. I used to go to their house and bake with Christy and I've known all the kids since they were born," she said in a phone talk. "I've babysat Laura Frances since I was eight and there are so many funny things she's done I can't even think of just one.
"I'm really gonna miss them all."
Jamie intends to visit the Beairds "every year" and that gets us to the final question of our interview by the Spacenet will Laura Frances and her family visit with us? The question drew an empathic response from the Bowen native about to embark on a wonderful new adventure: "Of course we will, silly!!!"
