Beverly Bedwell Bryars

Beverly was born April 6, 1940, in Dallas, TX, and is the only child of Major General Dr. Theodore Bedwell and Blanche Harper Bedwell.

A daughter of military parents, Beverly traveled the globe as a child and attended school in Ohio, Japan, Nebraska, and Maryland to finish high school, where she met her first love and eventual husband, Ken Bryars.

After graduating from Bucknell University in 1961, Beverly started her career at the Social Security Administration, where she ultimately worked her way up to Inspector General in the Senior Executive Service.

Beverly reconnected with Ken Bryars in 1990, and they married in 1992. They were happily married and living in San Antonio until his passing in 2020.

She happily called the Lincoln Heights neighborhood home for 35 years, and traveled often: safaris in Africa, European trips, and her favorite place on earth, Camden, ME, where she made some of her happiest memories with her beloved husband Ken and family and friends.

A lover of American history and politics, Beverly devoured nonfiction books and was the biggest fan of Deadline White House with Nicole Wallace on MSNBC. She paid close attention to politics, read the news diligently, and cared intensely about what was right.

Beverly was dedicated to her faith and her church. She was a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church for many years and served as Senior Warden and in other leadership roles. The St. Mark's community was her second home.

Those who knew her best cherished and marveled at Beverly’s intricate and skilled needlepoint art. From beautiful hand-stitched Christmas stockings to couch pillows that belong in a museum, she crafted hundreds of creative works and stitched a legacy that lives on.

She also spent much of her life with her favorite furry companions: poodles. Beverly adored her poodles and treated them as her children. She loved each of them: Muffet, Aggie, Quincy, Remy, and Pyper.

Beverly was an only child, survived by adoring family and friends, including best friend Martha Steves and her children Kurt, Albert, and Francie and their families, cousin Marilyn Bowling, and Ken’s kids: Cory (wife Cecilia Steeley,) Coby, and Connor (husband Rod Reuter,) and grandkids Isabella, Kelsey, and Erin.

Beverly Bedwell Bryars will be remembered by many as a kind and intelligent woman, passionate, generous, strong-willed, hard-working, and caring deeply about the world around her.

A Memorial Service will take place on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at 1:00 pm, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 315 E. Pecan Street, San Antonio, Texas, 78205.