Beulah Dean Prince

She was born at home in Strange Creek, West Virginia to T.E. (Thomas Emory) and Blanche (Chapman) Dean. She was born at home by the country Dr. at 7 months and was not expected to live. She weighed 2 lbs and was carried around on a pillow. She defied all odds and grew to become an amazing lady full of knowledge and great stories. She graduated Gassaway High School in 1942 and soon after that she moved to Charleston W.V. and started working at the Daniel Boone Hotel. She moved on to work at Charleston Memorial Hospital. She met her loving husband William (Bill) L. Prince in Charleston, and after he served in the U.S. Army they married on December 14th, 1946. She was the apple of his eye. She moved to Tampa Florida in 1960, and then moved to Largo in 2010. She has had so many friends over her 100 years 10 months and 6 days here on earth. She always talked about her friends and how they became friends. She was very family oriented and would do anything for them. She was the oldest of 9 children.

Beulah was predeceased by her husband William (Bill) L. Prince, Father T.E. Dean, Mother Blanche (Chapman) Dean, and brothers and sisters: Everett (Chip) Roland Dean; Eula D Young and Ernest Young; Johnnie (Rob) R. Dean and Dottie; Prudence (Prudie) D. Lambert and Virgil Lambert; Ernest (Ernie) E. Dean; Kenneth (Glen) Dean and Francis; and Eva Lou Lowery and Tom Lowery. She is survived by her youngest sister Phyllis (Jean) Dancy and husband Charles of Dille, WV; sister-in-law Carla Dean (Glen Dean) of Ravenswood, WV and many nieces and nephews.

Beulah and Bill never had children. Beulah’s niece Marilyn Mevers and her husband, Tom, and daughter cared for her for the last 20 years. She considered them to be her daughter, son, and granddaughter.

She worked at CAMC in Charleston and the Daniel Boone Hotel in West Virginia before moving to FL. She worked as a bookkeeper for Jack Berkman at the Spanish Radio station WTYM for many years in Tampa. She was able to meet many famous people while working for the radio station including Colonel Tom Parker who used to drop Elvis' demo records off to her at the radio station. He always made sure he had one for her to keep. After working at the radio station for many years she went to work for Jack’s son Monroe Berkman at The Main Event Bridal shop retiring at the age of 80.

Beulah loved to play games especially dominoes anytime the family got together. She loved to read romance novels- especially ones by Nora Roberts. She always had a book she was reading and crossword book beside her chair. She would always say she had to keep her mind sharp. She loved clocks and had a large collection of all different kinds of clocks.

Beulah and Bill loved to travel and would just take off for a weekend or week to someplace new. She always visited her parents every summer and attended the family reunions.

Beulah went on numerous cruises with her sisters Eula and Eva, brother-in-law Tom, niece Marilyn and her husband Tom and great-niece Gabrielle. She and her sisters would always go hit the slot machines, play Bingo on the ships, and go shopping in every port. She was always ready to go somewhere. She loved going to Vegas, playing the slots and going to the Vegas shows. She was always planning her next vacation. As soon as the trip was booked, she would start packing and be ready to go.

She loved all different types of music and dancing in her younger years and always talked about her and Bill going out to eat and then dancing with their friends. She loved art and going to art exhibits.

She loved history and was full of knowledge. She loved sitting on Spring Mountain Ranch (Vera Krup’s) front porch (former house of Howard Hughes) in Red Rock Canyon and looking out at the mountains. She said it was so peaceful. This is when she told us about her daddy logging logs down the river from Strange Creek to Charleston. She said when her daddy and the guys were walking back to Strange Creek a wagon train pulled up and asked where they were going. When her dad told them were going towards Gasaway they said they were headed to Sutton and asked if they would like a ride. Her dad and his buddies accepted the ride. Her dad jumped up in the wagon and along the ride towards Strange Creek her dad found out he was sitting beside Jesse James.

Beulah was always nice and accepting of everyone she met. She has given us so many years of wit, laughs and smiles that would melt your heart. She was a lung cancer survivor since 2005 and credits Dr Dilling at Moffitt Cancer Center for helping her and keeping her alive all these years. She made sure we knew she has lived through 2 pandemics, the depression, World War II and survived having Covid. She was her spunky witty self to the end. She will be greatly missed and has definitely left a lot of great memories for us to cherish.

Every time we parted I (Marilyn) would always ask her if she was going to behave and she would shake her head and tell me “NO! that's no fun” and just smile and say “why would I want to do that?”

So glad we had you for so many years.

What a wonderful life you lived!

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Beulah's memory may be made to SPCA Humane Society Pinellas, https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E76187&id=1

and Moffitt Cancer Center, specifically to Dr. Thomas Dilling who oversaw Beulah's care, https://give.moffitt.org//site/Donation2?1722.donation=form1&df_id=1722&mfc_pref=T&s_src=OLD&s_subsrc=04GENDONATE&utm_source=MCC&utm_medium=MCCWebSite&utm_campaign=OLDGENDONBT&_ga=2.134075982.1776686320.1498826680-1972783273.1498826680. In order to donate to Dr. Dilling, please select "other" and type "Dr. Thomas Dilling".

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.serenityfuneralhomelargo.com for the Prince family.