Shirley Beall

Shirley Beckstine Beall, 92, most recently of Avalon, PA, passed peacefully on Thursday, December 26, 2019. She lived comfortably for the past nine years at New Hope Assisted Living. Shirley was born on October 31, 1927 in Greenville, PA, the second of Benjamin and Vera Beckstine’s four children and their eldest daughter. She enjoyed a rural childhood attending a one-room elementary school, riding horses and ponies, and working on her family’s dairy farm. Shirley married the love of her life, John Morrison Beall, on April 9, 1949. As a US Army Lieutenant’s wife, she lived in Germany after WWII and at both Fort Sill, OK and Fort Hood, TX. On returning to the area, the couple settled first in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where their two children were born. They later lived in Sewickley, PA and then in eastern Ohio. Following her husband’s death in 1996, Shirley relocated to the Bellevue-Avalon area to be near her daughter and grandchildren.

Shirley was preceded in death by brother, Buddy Beckstine, sister, Patricia Livingston and dear friend, Art Ruperto. She is survived by her youngest sister Barbara Biery of Jamestown, PA, and by her beloved children Susan (John) Wheeler of Ross Twp, PA and Robert (Kimberly) Beall of Westerville, OH. She was the treasured grandmother of Brad (Tasha) Wheeler, Katherine (Wade) Stuckey, Lauren (Jesse) Meredith, and grandsons Jordan and Alex Beall. Shirley’s greatest joy was her nine great-grandchildren, who lovingly referred to her as Grandma Bee: Wesley, Nathaniel, and Margaret Stuckey, Dane, Grant, and Eric Wheeler, and Jack, Charles, and Naomi Meredith. Shirley led a life of quiet dignity and simplicity, and her love was felt by all who met her.