Free 03.She.Wanted.It.All.2005 by Kathryn Casey Page B

paid off, making the station a resounding success. “There was a real opening for a fourth station,” says one observer. “Steve ran old movies and sitcom reruns, and the ads came in, and the revenues climbed.”
    In 1986 the Fox network mushroomed across the nation. Under Steve’s guidance, KBVO became Austin’s Fox affiliate, and more success followed. Throughout Austin, Steve became a familiar sight, driving his BMW with his KBVO license plates. He affixed magnetic FOX 42, KIDS’ CLUB placards on the sides, advertising the station’s children’s show, where the main character dressed as Bevo, the steer. Children waved and called out to him, and Steve waved back, loving the attention.
    Living the good life, Steve loved food and drank, and his weight climbed until he flirted with 300 pounds on his five-foot-ten-inch frame. Yet his weight never seemed to bother him. On the golf course he was too wide to bend down to tee his ball. His friends did it for him. When McEachern drove in his car with him, Steve snickered at joggers. “Look at that guy,” he said playfully. “Hell, he’s all red in the face, huffingand puffing. You can’t tell me that damned exercise is good for people.”
    He told a friend: “Elise loves me the way I am, and I’m happy. That’s all that matters. Life is good.”
    And Elise did love him. Throughout their years together, they were a team. “She adored him,” says a friend. “When she looked at him, you could see she’d never stopped loving him.”
    Steve felt the same way about her. Each day at five-thirty he stopped what he was doing, straightened his desk, then called Elise and asked what he could pick up for her at the grocery store. “Do you need anything?” he’d ask, taking out his pen to write a list.
    Of the three children, Becky visited the most often. By then she was teaching school in Dallas. Steve was settled in Chicago and Paul had joined the navy. “Dad convinced me,” Paul says. “He said the navy would give me a chance to find myself and to see the world.”
    When it came time to buy, the Beards chose a house in Westlake Hills, on a bluff overlooking the city. On Terrace Mountain Drive, it was one of the best examples of why Austin’s moneyed crowd was migrating to the hills. The land had a rugged charm, a rough-and-tumble wildness that fit Texas, and incredible views of the city skyline.
    The one-story house rambled across the crest of a hill. From the street it resembled giant blocks with Mediterranean arches. Beige stucco, it appeared to be formed out of the same pale earth as the hills on which it stood. Inside it boasted rough-hewn Spanish tile floors and a wall of windows. In the panorama visible from nearly every room lay downtown Austin, striking upward from a bed of trees. At night, Steve and Elise swam in the enclosed pool or gazed out at the city lights while drinking cocktails in their hot tub.The former owners had built a hothouse on the property and raised orchids. Elise, who laughed about having a black thumb, took up the calling and won a garden club competition with an orchid her second year in the house.
    The Beards added on, bringing the house to more than 4,700 square feet. It had a study, game room, formal living and dining room, and four and a half baths. Steve was so proud, he photographed the renovated house, and Elise put together a before and after album to show friends. In his study, Steve hung mementoes, including photos of himself with
Bonanza’s
Hoss, Dan Blocker, from a promotional trip when KBVO bought the rights to air the reruns, and White House Christmas cards signed by Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
    While KBVO flourished, all Steve’s money wasn’t from the new station. He’d left Blair a wealthy man. McEachern estimated the Beards were already worth three million dollars when they arrived in Austin. “Steve did well, and he and Elise were both careful. They saved,” says Ray. “He was the kind of man who knew how to build