14990. William Albrecht Beasley
William Albrecht BeasleyEDUCATION: Attended University of Oklahoma
OCCUPATION: Works with the Beasley Laundry Enterprises
HOBBIES: Golf
CHURCH_AFFILIATION: Methodist
CREMATION: Inurnment at Ashland Mausoleum
BIOGRAPHY:
In Memoriam - William Albrecht Beasley 1936-2001
Conventional wisdom has it that we have gathered together this afternoon, not to acknowledge a death, but to celebrate a life. If this is true, the life we have chosen to honor is distinguished not so much by its ordinary aspects as by the varying degrees of uniqueness it contained. No one played it to the hilt with quit the gusto as Bill Beasley. No one burned his candles at both ends with such dazzling brilliance. A fitting epitaph might read, "He Did As He Damned Pleased."Most of us in our daily lives are regulated by a censoring device that bleeps a frantic warning signal the moment we're tempted to speak too candidly or indulge ourselves too excessively. Bill Beasley was not subject to such inhibiting restraints. As soon as a thought appeared in his head, he uttered it, with little regard for the consequences. There was no mediating device between thought and execution, no filter to screen out the rough edges, the harsh tone. He thought, he spoke, the words emerged as words should honestly and directly, as simple and emphatic as a hammer blow.
I always imagined him as some great primal being, a sloth or wooly mammoth, traversing a vast and powerful landscape, looking for food, water, perhaps another creature to couple with. He lived a highly charged existence on the level of the animal senses, which all too often disguised the workings of a keen and subtle intelligence. He was enormously gifted, and while he may have squandered many of those gifts, he managed to blend what was left into the tapestry of a totally original personality. If there is one word that conveys the impact of who he was, it is that. Bill Beasley was a bonafide American original. He was unique. He was inimitable. He stuck out on the threadbare carpet of everyday life like a bright, thorny, colorful plant.
Those of us closest to him - his sons and friends - were privileged to experience the full effect of his flamboyant character. When he was on, sitting at a bar, relaxed, puffing his pipe, sipping a glass of wine, there was no one more congenial or appealing. He had the genius for friendship, which people sensed and sought out. He radiated a glow, a personal magnetism, I daresay a kind of glamour, that at times seemed larger than life. To be with him during the blissful shank of an autumn afternoon, with the leaves twirling down and the images of football players flickering across a TV screen, was to partake of a pleasure that seemed to have no beginning or middle or end, but to go on and on in endless succession of delightful sensations.
He seemingly did not wish to be understood, only appreciated and enjoyed. I remember our mother warning me at an early age, "Now don't laugh at him," she would say, "you'll only encourage him."
But I couldn't help it. No one could make me laugh like Bill Beasley. The stories he could tell! The jokes he could crack! They tumbled forth from his whirring brain in rapid-fire succession. He could think quicker on his feet than anyone I ever knew; what a writer he might have been! Endlessly inventive, outrageously obscene, fearlessly imaginative, tossing off joke after joke with the supreme nonchalance of the born entertainer.
Billy, you were complex to a degree that no one, least of all yourself, could possibly understand. Under that brash, defiant exterior beat the heart of a vulnerable human being, which now and then we glimpsed, but only for a moment before the tide of rhetoric reasserted itself, obscuring that other, secret part we all yearned to know more about. You contained within the excesses of your bravura personality the seeds of true greatness - generosity and compassion, insight, understanding, humor and enchantment. Every time I though I had you pegged, that I could pin down with a word or descriptive phrase, you confounded me and sent me spinning off into space wondering what new bag of tricks you'd come up with next. You were protean, a true life force, tough and rudimentary, cranky and assertive, tender and mesmeric. No doubt Ardus and Conger, and yes, our beloved Sylvester Bell, have welcomed you back into their old, and even as we speak I know that somewhere you are flashing that radiant smile cracking joke after joke.
So long Billy. You were the last of the Wildwood boys, a direct descendant of the bushwhackers who stormed the Missouri border during the days of the Civil War. You asked no quarter, and gave none. You were a law unto yourself, and you rode like a demon through the moon-drenched night, crackling and shouting at the top of your lungs. So long, my dear brother, and may the spirits that smiled upon you in your short lie here on earth watch over you in the afterlife with the loving devotion you so richly deserve.
(Eulogy given by his brother - furnished by Marc Conger Beasley)
OBITUARY: William A. Beasley 1936-2001
William Albrecht Beasley, 65, St. Joseph, died Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001, at a St. Joseph hospital.Mr. Beasley was the former owner of Pearl Nuway Laundry. He was also a trout fishing guide on the White River in northern Arkansas.
Born May 21, 1936, in St. Joseph, he resided most of his life in St. Joseph and also resided in Flippin, Ark.
Mr. Beasley was a member of St. Joseph Country Club; Benton Club; Missouri Western Gold Coat Club; Kansas City Chiefs Red Coat Club; St. Joseph Booster's Club; Ducks Unlimited; Four Freshman Society; and a member of the former Elks No. 40, B.P.O.E. Lodge.
Mr. Beasley was preceded in death by his parents, Conger and Ardus M. Beasley.
Surviving: three sons, William Jr., St. Joseph, Marc C. Beasley, Mansfield, Oh., and Jonathan C. Beasley, Eufaula, Ala.; a brother, Conger Jr., Kansas City, Mo.; and eight grandchildren.
Service: 3 p.m. Friday, Meierhoffer Family Funeral Service. Inurnment: Ashland Mausoleum at a later date. Friends may call after noon Wednesday, Meierhoffer Family Funeral Service. Private Family visitation: 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, at the funeral home. The family will receive friends at 5 p.m. Friday, at the Benton Club. Memorials: Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art or the American Cancer Society..
William Albrecht Beasley passed away early on the morning of September 4, 2001, after a lengthy illness. He was born on May 21, 1936, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He went to Noyes School and Central High School, where he graduated in the class of 1954. He then attended the University of Oklahoma and the University of Colorado and finally Washington University in St. Louis.
He served in the United States Army from 1956 to 1960. Returning to St. Joseph, he worked at the family business of Pearl NuWay Laundry and Dry Cleaning.
In 1970 he moved to Northern Arkansas, where he eventually settled in as a trout fishing guide on the White River. He was a talented river man, with a gift for reading the vagaries of the shifting water and even a greater gift for enticing fish to hook themselves on his line. It was a simple life, strenuous and energetic, and he thrived on it.
It was at this time tat he discovered the delight of white-water rafting, and he went on numerous rafting and kayaking trips on the rivers of the American Southwest, particularly the Colorado, San Juan, and Green.
He also worked as a wrangler for Red Mountain Outfitters in Alamosa, Colorado, participating in elk-hunting parties in the San Juan Mountains. It was rough work, harsh and demanding at high altitudes, but he thrived on it as well.
He left Arkansas in the late 1980's to look after his ailing father who resided in Colorado and Southern California. When his father died in 1997, he returned to St. Joseph, where he lived until the time of his own demise.
He leaves three sons, eight grandchildren, one brother, and a big clattery Ford diesel truck, which he drove all over the U.S. in search of adventure. If there were a bridge across the Pacific Ocean to Japan, he would have driven it.
He loved being outdoors. He loved fish and wildlife of every sort. He was one tough hombre who never complained no matter how foul the weather, elusive the game, or tasteless the food.
He was deeply loved by everyone who knew him.
(Source: Obituaries for September 5, 2001 from the St. Joseph News Press - furnished by Marc Conger Beasley who wrote, My uncle wrote this personalized obituary that was printed on Friday in the St. Joseph News Press.)
Nancy Ann O'MalleyCHURCH_AFFILIATION: Catholic
EDUCATION: Attended the University of Ohio at Athens, OH
18846. William Albrecht Beasley
RESIDENCES: As of Sep 2001, St. Joseph, MO
18847. Marc Conger Beasley
Marc Conger BeasleyRESEARCHER: Marc Conger Beasley was interested in genealogy.
CHURCH_AFFILIATION: Catholic
MARRIAGE: Cathedral of St. Joseph, St. Joseph, MO
EDUCATION: BS in Education; BA Vocal Performance - Missouri Western State College 1987
RESIDENCES: As of Sep 2001, Mansfield, OH
CHILDREN: As of Nov 2003, 4 girls
18848. Jonathan Chad Beasley
RESIDENCES: As of Sep 2001, Eufaula, AL
14991. William Conger Beasley
William Conger BeasleyAKA: Tony; published as Conger Beasley
EDUCATION: Graduated from Choate, Columbia University, New York, and New York Univeristy
OCCUPATION: World traveler and writer
CHURCH_AFFILIATION: Methodist
RESIDENCES: As of Sep 2001, Kansas City, MO
OCCUPATION: Author
Genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Essays, Journalism, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Travel, Autobiography/Biography, MissouriPublished Works:
NOVELS: "Hidalgo's Beard: A California Fantasy," Andrews and McMeel, 1979; "The Ptomaine Kid: A Hamburger Western," Andrews and McMeel, 1981;SHORT FICTION: "My Manhattan," Woods Colt Press, 1986; "The Magic Deer," Wordcraft of Oregon, 1986; "The Blood of Dead Poets," Wordcraft of Oregon, 1996;
NONFICTION: "Canyon de Chelly: The Timeless Fold," Sweetlight Books, 1988; "Sundancers and River Demons: Essays on Landscape and Ritual," University of Arkansas Press, 1990; "We Are A People in This World: The Lakota Sioux and the Massacre at Wounded Knee," University of Arkansas Press, 1995; "Eyes Open in the Dark: 8 Essays," BkMk Press, 1996;
POETRY: "Over DeSoto's Bones," Ahsahta Press, 1979; "Looking Up From the Bottom of the World," Timberline Press, 1986;
EDITOR: "The Hermitage Journals of John Howard Griffin," Andrews and McMeel, 1982; "Missouri Short Fiction," BkMk Press, 1986
Contact author directly at: P.O. Box 22524, Kansas City 64113-0524
Source: Missouri Center for the Book. June 26, 2002)
Elizabeth McCoyCHURCH_AFFILIATION: Baptist
EDUCATION: Graduated from Park College, Parkville, MO
18850. William Wallace Conger Beasley
William Wallace Conger BeasleyAKA: Tony Boy
William Richardson GunbyMARRIAGE: The marriage of William Richardson Gunby and Barry Louise Conger ended in divorce on 20 Sep 1957.
18851. William Gunby Sheffield
William Gunby SheffieldAKA-ADOPTION: Born, William Richard Gunby III, he was adopted by Robert Bruce Sheffield on 1 Aug 1967 in DeKalb Superior Court, Decatur, GA. His name was changed to William Gunby Sheffield.
(Source: The Conger Family of America, Vol. I, p 43 - Maxine Crowell Leonard)
14997. Nanette (NMN) Keefe
Nanette (NMN) KeefePARENTS: Edward Vincent Harbeck, Jr. and Bonnie Lee Blosier
NAME: Child of a relationship between, Edward Vincent Harbeck, Jr. and Bonnie Lee Blosier. She used the maiden name, Nanette (NMN) Keefe. Her grandmother, Nanette Maud Conger was married to John Lewis Keefe.
OCCUPATION: Since 1982 Medical Technologist at San Antonio Community Hospital
EDUCATION: B.A. 1952,, Texas Women's University, Chem. M.T. (ASCP) '75
PUBLIC_SERVICE: Volunteer; President, San Antonio Junior Forum 1965; National Press, TWU Alumnae 1971
RECOLLECTIONS:
My grandmother was Nanette Maud Conger, born 1875, daughter of Job Clifton Conger, born 1845 and Emeline Hines.She was the town belle, and had fallen in love with a young doctor who was already married. He refused to divorce his wife, who was dying of tuberculosis, and he asked Nanette to wait until nature took its course. Piqued, she married the "next young man who asked," who happened to be Mr. Samuel Blosier. Their first child was a stillborn girl. The second, named Bonnie Lee, was born 26 Jan 1902 in Macon, GA. On 26 Nov 1904, Nanette Maud Conger divorced Samuel Blosier in Keytesville, MO.
Later she married John Lewis (Lou) Keefe and had daughters Emily Frances and Lou (named for her father. John Lewis loved Bonnie dearly and treated her as his own, although he never legally adopted her. It is not known if she used the name Blosier or Keefe in school. About 1919, John Lewis Keefe and family moved to San Antonio, TX where he became sales manager for the Hoffman Water Heater Company.
After school, Bonnie, who was extremely pretty, went to New York and found work in vaudeville. She used BONNIE LEE as a stage name. She danced in the Ziegfield Follies, had bit parts in several movies, and went on the road with the show BOMBO.
Then history repeated itself. Bonnie fell in love with a married man named Edward Harbeck. But, on 20 Apr 1925 she married another man, Charles Cohen, whom she apparently did not love. She lived with Cohen for a time in New York City, but on 8 Sep 1930 in San Antonio, TX she had a child, named, Nanette. The birth was supposedly two months premature, but the doctor assured the anxious Mr. Cohen that the child was "perfectly normal." A divorce was granted on 10 Dec 1931.
Edward Harbeck did divorce his wife, he remarried almost immediately to another woman, not Bonnie.
Bonnie then went by the name of Keefe, the surname of her step-father. John Lewis Keefe died in 1933, leaving many debts. Bonnie went to work to support her mother (Nanette Maud) and her own baby, Nanette.
In 1936, when time came for baby Nanette to begin school, there was a question of a last name. Bonnie did not want to use the name "Cohen" because of anti-Semitism (and it wasn't true). On the other hand she had no claim to "Harbeck", so it was decided to use the name "Keefe." This created another "Nanette Keefe," same as my grandmother. This lengthy tale is necessary to explain why my maiden name appears as, Nannetee Keefe, everywhere, (all certificates) and yet I am not a "Keefe."
Until Ed Harbeck died in 1952, he wandered in and out of our lives, never leaving, but never making any commitment. I saw him three times in my life. The first time he and mother met on the mezzanine of the Gunter Hotel. I was so small that I remember sitting on the floor and looking down through the balcony railings. The second time was in the lobby of the St. Anthony's Hotel, under the painting of the eagle on the cliff. The third time he came to dinner on Hammond Avenue -- and instructed my mother that roast should always be cut across the grain. I was a teenage then, and embarrassed mother by giggling too much.
Ed Harbeck was a career Air Force officer, and always wore his uniform. During WWII he was stationed in the Aleutians and volunteered for extra missions as Squadron Leader, for which he was handsomely paid. This money, unknown to his current wife, bought war bonds in my name - $10,000 worth. He also sent me a beautiful necklace made of Alaskan gold nuggets, now very valuable, but priceless to me for its value as acknowledgment.
When he retired he settled in Boerne, a small town near San Antonio. He rented a post office box in San Antonio, just across the street from the building in which my mother had worked for 20 years. This was so she could contact him. I was told to call him, "Uncle Ed," a euphemism which fooled nobody.
In 1953, after Ed's death, Bonnie finally remarried, John Nugent Scoggins. However, she remained "Mrs. Bonnie Lee Keefe" in all business transactions, until her death in 1974.
As for the bonds, I was grown and married when they reached maturity. Ed's widow put in a claim for half of the money. I didn't need it, so relinquished all of it to her. (Written by Nanette Keefe Reichert)
(Source: The Conger Family of America, Vol. II, p. 401-402 - Maxine Crowell Leonard)
William Frederick Reichert, Jr.EDUCATION: B.S. 1952, M.S. in Ind. Eng., 1955 from Texas A & M University
OCCUPATION: As of 1982, Senior Engineer, San Antonio Public Service
MILITARY: Served in U.S. Signal Corps, 1953-1954 in Korea; Retired from the Army Reserves as a LTC
PUBLIC_SERVICE: Boy Scout Leader; awarded Silver Beaver 1980
14998. Dorothy Avis Conger
Dorothy Avis CongerPARENTS: Job Clifton Conger, III and Avis Dorothy Jones
RESIDENCES: As of Dec 1994, Dorothy A. Shymansky of West Virginia.
Robert Lee ShymanskyOBITUARY:
WHEELING, W.Va. -- Robert Lee Shymansky Sr., 65, of Wheeling, W.Va., formerly of Springfield, [IL] died Sunday, March 7, 1999, at his residence. He was born Dec. 24, 1933, in Springfield, the son of John Wilfred and Margaret Wheeler Shymansky.A son, Robert Lee Shymansky Jr., preceded him in death.
Mr. Shymansky moved to Wheeling, W.Va., in 1960. Upon his arrival, he began his career in computer software with NCR Corp. He started his own software company, Fiscal Development Systems Inc., in 1994. For the past five years he served as a vice president for PNC Institutional Management Corp. He was a U.S. Army veteran, founded the Linsly Key Club through the Wheeling Kiwanis Club, was a member of the Wheeling Rotary Club and member of St. Michael Catholic Church, Wheeling, W.Va.
Survivors: wife, Dorothy Conger Shymansky; a son, Dr. John Stephen Shymansky of Pittsburgh; a daughter, Julia Marie Shymansky of Pittsburgh; and three grandchildren.
Funeral liturgy with Mass: 1 p.m. Wednesday, St. Michael Catholic Church, Wheeling, W.Va. Burial: Park View Memorial Gardens, Wheeling, W.Va. Kepner Funeral Home in Wheeling, W.Va., is in charge of arrangements.
Database: State Journal-Register(Springfield, Illinois), Obituaries, 1993-1999 Headline: OBITUARIES
Publication Date: March 09, 1999
(Furnished by Betty McMurphy)
18858. John Stephen Shymansky
Dr. John Stephen ShymanskyRESIDENCES: As of Mar 1999, Pittsburgh, PA
AKA: Called, Stephen, by his uncle, Job, in the Sep 2000 issue of Conger Confab, p. 278.
18859. Julia Marie Shymansky
RESIDENCES: As of Mar 1999, Pittsburgh, PA
15000. William Harrison Conger
William Harrison CongerPARENTS: Job Clifton Conger, III and Avis Dorothy Jones
RESIDENCES: As of Dec 1994, Florida; As of Jan 2001, Key Largo, FL
18860. Carolyn Anne Conger
Carolyn Anne CongerRESIDENCES: Lived in Florida
REFERENCE: Photograph of Carolyn and her husband, with very brief article appears in the December 2000 issue of Conger Confab, p. 294.
Serges DemefackEMIGRATION: From Cameroon, in west-central Africa
15005. Thomas Dane Conger
Thomas Dane CongerRESIDENCES: They built their home next to his parents on the ranch at Buffalo Gap, SD.
(Source: The Conger Family of America, Vol. II, p. 218 - Maxine Crowell Leonard)
Ramona Dell WilliamsAKA: Probably called, Dell
15009. David Lawrence Buswell
David Lawrence BuswellEDUCATION: Graduate of Virginia Tech
OCCUPATION: Industrial Engineer
15010. Frederick Grant Buswell
Frederick Grant Buswell, IIIEDUCATION: Graduate of Virginia Tech in Computer Science
OCCUPATION: Systems Analyst for Shell Oil Company
Nora Fay HiltonEDUCATION: University of Texas graduate in Mathematics
OCCUPATION: Systems Analyst for Shell Oil Company
15012. Jeffrey Conger Schaumberg
Jeffrey Conger SchaumberbBIRTH: At the U.S. Naval Base, Yokosuka, Japan
EDUCATION: B.A. Geology, Miami University, [Miami,] OH
OCCUPATION: Real Estate
Wendy Virginia DonaldADOPTION: Adopted by Douglas Dunn Donald and Grace Martha Retz
15022. Ian Morgan Conger
Ian Morgan CongerOCCUPATION: Mountain climbing
HOBBIES: swimming, playing soccer, playing chess
RESIDENCES: 48157 Starlight Court; Fremont, CA 94538
Terry ChevalierOCCUPATION: Part-time swimming instructor; works with handicapped
HOBBIES: Learning sign language; liked puzzles