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In Memory

Gary Beeson

 
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08/13/15 12:54 PM #1    

Bob Peele

 Gary was a warm and kind man . We both had hot cars . His was a 58 Ford which we got up to 130mph on Governors Hwy near Peotone . His Welsh mother who was a War Bride always called him Gareth . 

We skipped school one day to caddie and make money when we were 8th Graders at St. Irenaeus and got caught . Had to forfeit the class trip to Springfield . 

 His Dad and my Dad were friends .


08/15/15 10:39 AM #2    

Karen Mysogland (Kane)

I have to say that the comments from Bob Peele and Volmar were very heartening. I have hardly any memories of Gareth at Rich East. But he was at St Irenaeus with us and during 7th and 8th grade during basketball games, the guys from our class used to have this chant. Every time a foul was committed they would yell out, "Beeson did it!" We thought it was hysterical back then. Jr high hijinks of the silly type. But as an adult, I have often wondered if that was a firm of humiliation and caused him difficulty. It appears he moved on and found good companionship and many adventures. So glad to hear. RIP Gareth. 

 


08/20/15 05:39 PM #3    

William Kiley

Gary was a "gentle man". I never saw him angry. Bob Peele started the "Beeson did it" in 7th grade. The old nuns couldn't see or hear so if there was a commotion they'd ask who did it? Peele would yell Beeson did it and Gary would get tossed to the hall. After a while he was simply blamed for everything.

Gary and his Dad were in a bad car accident. His Dad, not knowing Gary had two beoken legs asked him to get up and walk to see if he was okay. That was a call his father had to live with. Something we could have all done.

Gary was simply a very nice guy.


08/20/15 06:47 PM #4    

Dierdre Lindhoff (Curtis)

Gary Beeson was always kind to me from the early days at St. Irenaeus through Rich East. He lived down the street from me and I think he had a rather hard life. One time there was someone looking in my bedroom window late one summer night. I saw a young kid run down the street. The next thing I knew people were saying Beeson did it. He was not the one I saw. He came to me to reassure me that he hadn't done it. I told him I already knew that. Long after his accident we were walking home from Rich together and he was talking about how he felt that people stayed away from him. It was so sad. He said his dad had a drinking problem. I had heard that he had been drinking the night of the accident.The last time I saw him was downtown at one of the big stores. I think he was selling shoes. It was a year or so after we graduated. I'm not excatly sure when. He might have been home from college for the summer and working part time. I hope his life got bright and happy later on. It's so sad that he had so much to deal with early on. I really liked him very much.

 

 


10/28/22 07:58 PM #5    

Judith Higgins (Varley)

I never knew Gary, but sorry I didn't.  Hearing the mocking undoubtedly didn't help him put himself out there to the rest of the classmates.  I wonder if he found happiness later in his life and I truly hope he did.  


10/29/22 01:03 PM #6    

Jeremy Gladstone

Although I barely knew Gary Version, I can only say that anyone's passing is a terrible moment.

10/29/22 06:28 PM #7    

Jim Marzano

Thanks for sharing stories about Gary.  Like my St. Irenaeus classmates, I too felt bad about the teasing we all did and can only hope he was able to move on from our bad behavior in later life. 

I wanted to learn more about Gary's passing as he left us so young (57).  I found out he was living in Port Richey FL near Tampa, had been a carpenter, and 2 children.   There wasn't much other information, but in the amazing coincidence department, it was noted he had a sister named Jane Marzano!  I have no idea who that might be from a relation standpoint, but that's also my sister's name.

Yikes...time to dig deeper into my family tree...

God Bless Gary, and all of you. 


10/30/22 11:07 AM #8    

Dan Hier

I did not know Gary Beeson.  But I have enjoyed reading the comments about teasing.  Looking back, I think we, as a group (Class of 1965), were pretty nice to each other.  Over the years, I have always disliked teasing and was very sensitive about being teased myself.  I always felt that there was an aggressive undercurrent to teasing--making the teaser bigger and the one teased smaller.  But over the years, I have accepted that some teasing is light-hearted and meant for fun, and other teasing is malicious and meant to hurt.  Hopefully, we can all enjoy teasing meant to be light-hearted and in jest and call out malicious teasing meant to hurt for what it is.  I learned to be more tolerant of teasing now than when I was in high school when we all felt more vulnerable than we wanted to admit.


10/31/22 11:49 AM #9    

Mark Leonas

Well said, Dan.


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