My friend Danny Golson loaned me a good book the other day, a book that many of you would probably enjoy reading, “Rogue Angel” by Jodi Werhanowicz.Subtitled “The Spiritual Journey of One of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted,” the book is about Mary Kay Beard, the founder of the Angel Tree Christmas gift charity that many of you will be familiar with.
Beard’s story is an interesting one. Raised by an abusive, alcoholic father and a deeply Christian mother, Beard was a straight-A student in school and went on to become a nurse. As a young woman, she married the “man of her dreams,” who, she would later learn, made his living as a gambler and bank robber. She eventually began helping her husband carry out bank robberies and commit other crimes, and at the age of 27 she found herself on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.
Her husband left her and she abandoned her own son with relatives, all the while having a mafia contract out on her head and outstanding criminal warrants against her in four states. After a 1972 robbery in Tuscaloosa in which she was dubbed the “Polite Lady Robber” by the papers, Beard was arrested by the FBI and was eventually sent to prison for armed robbery.
As the story goes, Beard finds herself in solitary confinement with a Gideon Bible and has a spiritual transformation in the Birmingham City Jail. She eventually begins a Bible study group in prison and becomes a model prisoner. She earns an early release from prison and begins working as a counselor and public speaker.
Based on her experiences in prison, Beard leads an effort to create a Christmas gift charity so that prisoners will have gifts to give their children during the holidays. Having been a prisoner herself, Beard recognized that prisoners are people too and all too often their children, through no fault of their own, suffered from having one or more parents behind bars, especially during the holidays. Beard’s charity effort eventually evolved into the Angel Tree charity.
Published by Ezekiel Press in Phoenix, Ariz., this 272-page book features an introduction by Charles Colson, who went to federal prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. “This book is a great read, very exciting and inspiring,” Colson said. “As I worked by way through the pages, I found myself many times in tears, thanking God for this woman’s life. I recommend a lot of books, but this is one I want to tell you that you must read.”
Today, Beard lives in Birmingham and holds a master’s degree in counseling from Auburn University. Most recently, she worked as the lead counselor at Impact Family Counseling in Birmingham, where she taught parenting classes, trained volunteers and supervised interns.
In the end, I enjoyed reading “Rogue Angel” and found Beard’s story to be very inspirational. She’s a prime example of a person who has turned her life around despite what she’s done in the past. A person who went from being one of the FBI’s most wanted to a person who has helped a lot of people, Beard’s story is one that we can all learn something from.
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