Terry Doyle Leverett – Great Grandson of Ed and Minnie Beaver
I, T. Doyle Leverett, was born January 19,1954, at Manteno, Illinois. I am the third child born to Robert Lee Leverett and Daisy Nard Beaver Leverett. I was the first to have the bad taste to be born outside the state of Texas. I am told that I made up for this lack of breeding by making the phrases, “Panhandle,” “Sam Houston,” “Remember the Alamo,” and such like, a part of my vocabulary.
Some of my early memories:
- Being told by my mother, Daisy, that the statue outside of the Kankakee Court House was that of a damn yankee. I was seventeen before I realized that phrase was two separate words.
- Being bitten by the acting bug early. I could recite all of Gerald McBoing-Boing at the age of three.
- Being taken to meet my Grandma Nanny (Sadie Beaver) at the train station when she came up from Texas, and how I loved her. I loved to spend the night with her in her house a crosa the street from ours in Manteno – even though her snoring could wake the dead.
- I liked to sing at the Church of Christ where we attended, and like most kids, I learned to sing a part early.
- I lost my beloved Nanny when I was 11 years old, and then I made my first trip to the great state of Texas. How I loved meeting all of my big family, especially my great Aunt Myrl Norrod, who was just my height.
- The two times that Buddy and Lois visited us in Illinois. I thought Buddy was the funniest man I had ever seen. He always accused me of belonging to the Syndicate.
- Hearing Gospel singing from my earliest days on. I knew that I was part of a grand heritage of Gospel singers. To this day I tear up when I hear one of those old songs.
- Looking back, I must have been a spoiled brat, but I was treated like a little prince by all concerned. That is to say, I was “rooted and founded in love.”
Education: I attended the University of Illinois for four years, r ceiving a degree in Music Theater. I received a scholarship to, and attended the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria. I have five years of acting experience in summerstock theater.
Currently, I am operating a dinner theater in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania, with my sister, Kelly, and singing all across the country. I am unmarried, and seriously considering single parent adoption. There never can be too many Beavers or Leveretts, you know.
T. Doyle Leverett