Margaret Beeler, 88, passed away on January 3, 2024, into the arms of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Margaret was born in 1935, the youngest of four girls, to P. Raymond Crum and Mary Emma Wylly in Poughkeepsie NY. Raymond owned the ferry boats that crossed the Hudson River. Mary was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, had patented inventions, and enjoyed entertaining, arts and literature. When she was a teen, Margaret and her mother moved to Los Angeles CA where she was a debutante, then graduated from the Marlboro School for Girls. She attended UCLA for two years and was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
In March 1955, Margaret was married to Alfred (Al) Anthony Beeler at All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. They were blessed with three children, Cathy (Keizer OR), Meg (Overland Park KS), and John (Philadelphia PA). The family lived in Southern California and enjoyed annual trips to Yosemite as well as lots of time at local beaches and mountains, and frequented art museums, cultural and historical sites.
Margaret was a homemaker, taught Sunday school, and instilled a love of learning, nature, arts and literature in all of us children. Her interests included oil painting, photography, scrapbooking, reading, music, travel and swimming. Mom was famous for her copious notes and notebooks on every aspect of homemaking since she had to figure it out on her own, as that was not one of her mother’s skill sets. She made sure we girls would have something to start with when we married.
Being married to an aerospace engineer, Mom made sure we watched every space launch, from Gemini to the Space Shuttles, and we were all glued to the TV for the Apollo 11 moon landing. Also a must-see were the Olympic Games, particularly the equestrian and swimming events.
Al and Margaret moved from Los Angeles to Kansas City where they enjoyed the beauty and history of the Midwest. Missouri Town, the Truman Library, and Lake Jacomo were among their favorites. They moved again a few years later to Mountain Lakes NJ which gave them the opportunity to explore the historic places and sites Margaret had not seen since her childhood.
In 1986, shortly after their 31st anniversary, Al passed away. Cathy and Meg had married and shortly after, John graduated college. After doing office work for a few years, Margaret moved to Keizer to be close to Cathy’s growing family. In 1996 she met Jay Evett at the Willamette Institute for Continued Learning. And over the next 27 years, they traveled the world, from Alaska and Hawaii to Europe and the UK. They also spent many happy weekends at the Oregon coast, explored the great Northwest, and shared a devoted and abiding love for each other.
Margaret is survived by her children Cathy Clark (Kevin), Meg McNerney, and John Beeler, grandchildren Emilene (Jordan) Redfern, Tim (Erin) McNerney, Alex (Shelah) Clark, Katie (Ben) Rowe, Allison (Michael) Hargitt, and Alana Clark. She is also survived by her dear friend and partner, Jay Evett. And she also had six great-grandchildren of whom she was very proud.
Margaret loved libraries and we would welcome contributions to Keizer Community Library to honor her memory.
https://keizerlibrary.org/funding/