Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
July 31, 2002
Hart love: a lasting marriage
Devotion to faith, family hallmarks of couple's life together
By Alwen Bledsoe
In 1943 Bob Hart mailed a ring to his girlfriend Beverly. She made her first long-distance call ever when she called him at his Navy base in Rhode Island to accept.
They were married July 9, 1944, and 58 years later they still joke flirtatiously, hold hands, and are the best dancers in the family.
Bob spent their engagement year fighting World War II in the South Pacific. Five days after he came back to Denver, he and Beverly married and left immediately for the Rhode Island base.
"I'd never been away from home. I wanted to go home to my mom," Beverly remembered with a smile.
When World War II ended and the Harts returned to Denver where the two had met while at Holy Family School, life still had its challenges. They had 12 children, and Bob often worked up to three jobs. Every day Beverly hand-washed clothes on a washboard. She cooked dinner for 14 every night. Kids slept four to a room. But the most visible trademarks of the Hart family — then and now — are faith, fierce love and the best party in town.
"We always, always had a family dinner, whether it was scrambled eggs or roast beef," remembered daughter Mary Roybal, now 42 and a mom of six. "It was important. It was the only time of day we sat down together. We liked to joke a lot. There was a lot of teasing and joking."
Family outings were simple affairs, like nighttime "jammie rides." Afterwards dad brought out the movie screen and projector to show old family movies in the backyard, Mary remembered.
Now the Hart family is 92-large, including in-laws, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And the joking and family get-togethers continue.
"They're the biggest party you ever went to," said the Harts' oldest, 57-year-old Mike Hart, father of three.
Every year all 92 crowd into the Harts' basement Christmas night for dinner and the annual appearance of Santa Claus. On St. Patrick's Day, family floods in to celebrate with Jameson whisky. Visits from family are so frequent that he has to replace the back door every six months, Bob jokes.
"We've all of us from the oldest brother Michael on down, we still look to my father for guidance, and my mother is kind of the cornerstone," said Mark Hart, 38, and a father of four. "You don't do anything to upset mom. Period. If you do, you risk the wrath of all my brothers and sisters."
The Harts' memories of deciding to marry are nothing startling or even exceptionally romantic.
"I guess we were just compatible," Bob said. "We just got along so well together."
But their love is obvious.
"I never wanted to go with anybody else," Beverly said.
"If you love one another, everything just revolves around that love," Bob added. "If you give yourselves to one another, it's just fantastic."
Beverly praises her husband for providing for the family, and he praises her loving devotion to children and home. Their family is still their greatest pride and joy.
"My family, nothing else," Beverly said. "When I die, I want it put on my headstone. My family is all I'm known for. It'll be a short obituary."
Putting their 12 children through Catholic school at Holy Family was also a non-negotiable.
"He worked every job he could to put shoes on our kids' feet and pay tuition," Beverly said of her husband.
"Learning about God was a priority," their daughter Mary said, adding that her parents' devotion to God and one another kept their marriage strong.
"Faith is everything," Bob said. "You've got to have faith in God. There's no doubt in my mind — you've got to have faith. We pray together, we go to church together. We trust in God."
"I always used to say every time the Lord sent us a kid, he sent us a loaf of bread," he later added. "The good Lord always seemed to be there for us."
To the Harts, staying together 58 years, raising 12 happy children and maintaining a thriving faith is nothing remarkable. But among their children, their faith and love are legendary.
"We've got an incredibly huge family and there's never been a terrible tragedy in our family," Mark said, later adding: "I have this gut feeling — my brothers and sisters and I all have it. We all feel that nothing bad will happen as long as my parents are there. I mean dad goes to Mass all the time. I think he's still on a daily regiment. It's as if God has made a pledge. You've got to sit back and look — there are (92) people in the family and nothing significantly bad has happened. It's like we're being protected through dad's devotion to church and family."
And his parents' relationship is also remarkable. Mark still remembers his parents dancing at his wedding.
"It will forever stick in my mind — the smile on my dad's face as he'd hold my mom as they moved around the dance floor. My mom always looked more elegant and more content than anybody on earth," he remembered, later adding: "Our wedding reception was monstrous, but I don't think anybody even moved. Even the caterers just stopped and looked at them. It's amazing."
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