Beverlie Elaine Kirkpatrick

Beverlie was born at home on July 22nd 1925 in Rockland, Maine. Her early life was spent in Maine and from four years old in rural Vermont, where she learned to appreciate the lyrical landscapes portrayed in Robert Frost's poems. Life in Vermont: the family business harvesting ice in Winter for export to New York, and surrounded by wood harvesting for firewood, allows us to imagine rural farming and the winter harvesting sugar maples in the 1920’s. These memories of the horse-drawn sleighs across the winter snow, and trudging “four miles” each way to school seemed like real adventures to her California children. She was the first of four children of Margaret Long Conant. with brother Ralph, sister Ruth and brother Jimmy. After the family farm failed during the Great Depression in 1931, Margaret moved to Burlington, Vermont for the next eight years, where young Beverlie thrived in schooling. She followed her mother's example by memorizing all the books of the Bible by the age four and using her great memory for facts helped her do well in school. During those years she would spend Summers up in Northern Maine on her uncle's farm, eating home- baked pies and joining in with family chores which she loved even more than school. In 1938 when she was thirteen, youngest brother Jimmy was born with a congenital heart defect, and watching her mother care for her brother helped her make the decision to try to become an RN. Around this time she decided to join the Episcopal Church. Her mother encouraged her to follow her beliefs, and she attended Bible school, and was baptized into the church four months later. In 1940 the family moved back to Maine, where Beverlie attended her last two years of high school. They lived for a time with her Aunts Edith and Agnes, and she was able to share in the extended family life including her great-uncle Fernando Long. She loved listening to the family stories especially the ones Fernando told, like his joining the Union Army at 16 to fight in the Civil War from 1862. Her Maine experiences in the early forties included links to both sides of her family which she cherished throughout her life. One of her favorite things was to visit her Uncle Joe and his lobster fishing. It was told by the family that when she was only fourteen, she had watched lobstermen play cribbage each day--the winner determining who would get the best fishing grounds to set their traps. One day after watching closely an especially hard-fought match, she challenged the older men to let her have a chance. At that time it was unheard of for a woman to play Cribbage. Needless to say Uncle Joe was proud that day as she beat four wizened boat captions at their own game.

Soon after war broke out in Europe shipyards in Portland began hiring workers and commercial shipyards were converted into Navel Yards all up and down the Coast. By the time we entered the war men were being sent aboard and the Yards advertised for women to “temporarily” take their place. Mother Margaret was just under five feet tall and weighed less than one-hundred pounds dripping wet. But she applied for a job as a shipyard welder. She got the job in 1941 and spent the next four years as a shipyard welder. Meanwhile Beverlie helped-out at home, finishing high school in 1942.

Wartime training at Deaconess Hospital in Boston for nurse training program as well as special training as a military nurse cadet. Her life of service began as a nurse cadet in 1944, taking on the care of wounded soldiers while still in nursing school. (1943-1946).

In post-war Boston, Beverlie was completing her training and had taken up a position with pioneering diabetes specialist Dr. Joslyn in the Joslyn-Deaconess Diabetes Clinic. Beverlie had become an integral part of the diabetes education program, working with patients to develop a program. The disease was little known a the time and she had her work cut out trying to change peoples eating habits and helped develop insulin protocols for diabetics- at age 20!

All this study and focus on community health care, was integrated into her life. It was rumored that she was a great jitterbug dancer, and she and her fellow nurses frequently went to church sponsored dances “with as many men as possible”. Meanwhile our Father Dave, went to the dances to meet a “christian woman” with similar interest. One Friday in late August 1946, the stars aligned and Dave and Bev met.. “he wasn’t much of a dancer, but he was sincere and wanted the spiritual family life I had dreamed.

Six months later as Dave and Bev walked along the Charles River across from the Harvard Yard, Dave proposed to Beverlie by saying, “If you don’t Marry me I’ll jump into the River !”

After Marriage they soon left Boston for rural Long Island where the Government had established the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Dave's MIT program was focused on Nuclear Engineering. While living on Long Island the family quickly expanded, four children in 3 1/2 years ! Ellen born in March 1948, Karl in March 1949, Paul in July 1950, and Kathi in 1951. While living on Long Island Beverlie was instrumental in setting up a women's bridge club which also encouraged wives of scientists to learn how to invest money on their own. The bridge club also was the framework for the first chapter of the League For Women Voters. In this role she later met Elinor Roosevelt in 1950, and attended the first session of the United Nations with her delegation of women voters.

The weather in Long Island was wet and cold after the Winter of 1953 The family decided to head out West. Arriving in Whittier California, where Beverlie again took up nursing. In 1956 the family moved to The San Fernando Valley, where they lived for most of the next twelve years. During the time in the Valley, the family were active in supporting Kirk o' the Valley Presbyterian Church, and Beverlie worked hard to fund raise for the Heart Association as well as continue to organize Red Cross training programs. Returning in 1964 to work on getting her masters degree, all the while working as a full time nurse. Beverlie’s many positions in the Valley included her working as the assistant director of nursing at the Motion Picture Hospital from 1965 to 1969. There she was instrumental in setting up the Friday family nights. In 1960’s Beverlie was working with regional disaster relief programs, and set up emergency shelters during several fire and flood disasters. After her children had left home Beverlie went back to school to finally get her Master’s degree in health education. Beginning new career at fifty teaching in the adult education department of Los Angeles State University, which she continued to teach until 1991.

In 1987 Beverlie moved to Westlake Village with her husband David. This marked the beginning of thirty-five years of volunteering in the Conejo Valley -Women's Club,Heart Association and the Red Cross were all part of her second career. Soon after arrival the Reagan Library opened and Beverlie volunteered as a docent for ten years. All this time Beverlie had the urge to travel and see the world. Her travels between 1964 and 2023, brought her to forty-odd countries. Perhaps her favorite was Maui where she traveled frequently to visit and loved the culture of Aloha.

In January 2000, her husband of fifty-three years passed away. Beverlie at the age of seventy-four continued her volunteer work. Two years later in 2003 she married Charles Kirkpatrick, whom she shared the love of travel and adventures all the way up until his death in August 2012.

Beverlie continued to travel and drive all the way up until the end of her life. Her constant companion in the last stages of her life was old-time family friend Neil Barbanell. His great humor and understanding helped make the tough times easier for her to face. Making several trips to her favorite places after her 98 birthday!

It would not be a fitting send off if we didn't mention and praise the caregiver's who comforted her each and every day. She started every conversation with praise and concern for those around her. The family understands that we are not alone in wanting to show our love to his great matriarch and mother to all.