John S. “Mike” Beever, 83, passed away on December 5, 2015, due to complications from cancer.
Born on July 15, 1932, to Granville H. and Harriet (Shepherd) Beever, he was raised in Sharon, Massachusetts, attended local schools, and then graduated from Williston Academy. At the University of New Hampshire as an engineering student, he first met his future wife, Sarah Jane Andrew. Mike left school to serve his country in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Upon returning to the States he married Jane in 1956 and finished his degree in Civil Engineering at UNH.
He was employed after graduation at U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh, but then with a growing family moved to Gorham, Maine, in 1961. He worked for a short time at L.C. Andrew Lumber Company, and then bought the C.E. Carll Insurance Agency, which had been named for Jane’s grandfather. The insurance office grew and was successful under his direction for over 30 years. In 1992 his son Jason Beever joined the company and took over leadership as the fourth generation in the family business when Mike retired in 1994.
Mike believed in hard work, perseverance and self-determination, and rarely took vacation time from the office. In his early years in Gorham he and Jane were active in the First Parish Congregational Church and in the Little Falls PTA. He was a member of the Gorham Kiwanis Club and helped in the start-up of the local ski slope on Water Street. He also assisted with Boy Scout Troop 73 while his sons were in Scouts.
In his spare time at home he enjoyed maintaining his vegetable garden, planning home improvement projects, and raising a few farm animals. Mike was active in the outdoors, and especially enjoyed many weekends with family at their camp in Eustis for fly fishing, skiing, or more house projects. Some of his other favorite trips were spring skiing in Tuckerman’s Ravine, fall hunting in Wesley, and canoeing the Allagash with sons Jason and Eben. After retirement he attended classes and meetings of the New England Blacksmiths, and made a number of tools and decorative items in his shop. Mike was active in his alumni group from Williston Northhampton, and also attended Historical Society gatherings and school reunions in his hometown of Sharon, Mass.
Mike Beever was pre-deceased by his youngest son, Eben, and by his wife, Jane, in 2008. He is survived by his sister: Betty Flertzheim of Fairfield, California, his four other children: Mark Beever (and Sharon) of Cornish, Maine, Rachel Lyon (and Roger Lyon) of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, Jennifer Beever of Canoga Park, California, and Jason Beever (and Linda) of Windham, Maine, and a daughter-in-law: Alison Bagley of Rumney, New Hampshire. Also surviving are eight grand-children: Jonathan (and Laurie Pinkert) and Kate Beever, Elizabeth, Will and Peter Lyon, Amber Gallant Hoxha (and Florent Hoxha) and Michael Gallant, and Jasper Beever, and three great-grand-children: Ari and Janina Hoxha, and Henry Pinkert Beever.
Mike Beever was my roommate. One of my best friends at Williston and like myself, supported his scholarship by working as a headwaiter in the dining hall. As we all make our separate ways after school and college, the last years bring us back to review the yearbooks and recall the wonderful social and athletic experiences of those years. I guess we all had a few friends who were particularly special. Mike Beever was one of those.
I didn’t know Mike Beever very well at Williston, but we got to be good friends afterwards. I guess he read something I had written about wildlife, and he sent me photos of his hunting and fishing expeditions in Maine. We exchanged Christmas cards, and I remember he offered to make door hinges for the cabin I was building. At times like these I’m reminded of the movie “Waking Ned Devine”. At a funeral the speaker pointed out that we ought not wait until someone has passed on to tell him that he was a good and thoughtful friend. Mike was a good and thoughtful friend, and I wish I had told him so.
It took only once to meet Mike, and be blessed by his happy attitude, insight, and generosity. There are some people who make life great, and Mike was one of them. We are lucky enough to be able to share his daughter Rachel in our extended family, and thereby continue to ride the Mike Beever train.
Love to all the Beever family from the entire Lyon family.