Meet The Rose Festival Queen Sarah Elizabeth Clyde
(Staff Photo by Herb Nygren Jr.)
The 75th Texas Rose Festival Queen Sarah Elizabeth Clyde poses alongside her piano. “Music has been such a blessing for me. It soothes the soul. For me, the internal source of joy comes through Christ. He’s the one who’s doing it through me,” the 18-year-old musician said.
Story By Jacque Hilburn
Staff Writer
When Sarah Elizabeth Clyde plays the piano, the object of her passion is immediately clear.
Staff Writer
When Sarah Elizabeth Clyde plays the piano, the object of her passion is immediately clear.
Body rocking, fingers sailing along the keys, the 18-year-old Tylerite manipulates the melody so that it rises and recedes with such intensity, it's as if she were playing in an auditorium packed with critics instead of the family's living room.
Chopin's Waltz, Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune are performed in the same manner - with great emotion and assurance, until the last note played fades to silence.
"Music has been such a blessing for me," she said between songs, her face glowing with happiness. "It soothes the soul."
She is quick to deflect credit for her abilities and satisfaction.
"For me, the internal source of joy comes through Christ," she said. "He's the one who's doing it through me."
The smiling young musician said she plans to apply the same level of enthusiasm and gratitude to her newest role, queen of the 75th Texas Rose Festival.
"It's so exciting, I still can't believe it," she said.
(Staff Photo by Herb Nygren Jr.)
Miss Clyde is surrounded by her family. Her mother, Elizabeth, and father, Nelson Clyde IV, stand behind her with (from left) siblings Rachel, Jamie and Cal.
FAMILY TRADITION
Miss Clyde may be new to the role of queen, but her family has a long-standing relationship with the Texas Rose Festival, dating to 1939.
Miss Clyde may be new to the role of queen, but her family has a long-standing relationship with the Texas Rose Festival, dating to 1939.
Her earliest memory of the festival was helping her aunt, Anna Clyde Malone, serve as queen in 1996, and she's looking forward to carrying on the tradition.
Miss Clyde credits her parents for helping cultivate an outlook of optimism and self-assurance.
"My parents always expected me to present myself in a good manner and be polite," she said. "Even though I was a kid, they wanted me to be able to talk with adults. It definitely helped me to be comfortable in front of people."
Her family says Sarah's gift for music and performance was realized early. At age 2, she was already singing in true tone, said her father Nelson Clyde IV.
"Singing was primary for Sarah, but she fell in love with the piano," he said. "We knew then music would be a big part of her life."
Clyde describes the oldest of his four children as a "Happy Baby" from her earliest ability to express herself.
"Sarah has always been comfortable in her own skin," he said. "She's a very pleasant and lovely person to be around. I'd like for people to experience that joy."
Her mother, Elizabeth Clyde, believes Sarah's self-confidence stems from her faith.
"Sarah is not only beautiful on the outside, she's beautiful on the inside," Mrs. Clyde said. "She gives glory to God and that's the most important thing."
Those lifelong lessons in self-assurance may have set the stage for her other successes.
The 2007 Grace Community High School honors graduate was lauded as an award-winning singer, performer and scholar. In her "spare" time, she also volunteered for Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels, Hospice of East Texas and Junior Symphony League.
She attends Texas Christian University and is learning the ropes on what it means to live away from home.
"In high school, I could get everything done," she said. "I was real active in choir. I held a position in the newspaper. I babysat and worked at a jewelry store. And somehow I managed to get everything done."
When you go away to school, the "to do" list seems to go on without end, she said.
On this point, a grinning Miss Clyde - describing the ease in which a washer load of whites can suddenly turn pink - seems to have learned a lot in a short period of time.
"It was an awakening," she said. "You have to learn to fend for yourself."
So when the opportunity presented recently to spend a weekend at home before the pressures of a new school semester kicked in, she jumped at the chance.
"Any opportunity you can get not to use shower shoes, I'll take it," she teased.
Shortly after arriving home, she opened the door to find James Chester Wynne III, Texas Rose Festival president, standing on the doorstep with a crown, a bundle of roses and a big announcement on the identity of the next queen.
"I was dumbfounded," she said. "That was the first time in my life I was speechless. I'm still shocked. After they left, my mom and I had a scream fest. I'm still having trouble believing it."
Miss Clyde said she's trying to temper her excitement and concentrate on the immediate matter at hand: surviving another semester at college.
She's still pondering career choices, but says psychology or something that would fulfill her desire to help others seems to feel right.
"Right now I'm trying to follow my gifts," she said. "I've learned I can't depend upon myself without depending on God's guidance first."
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