Deanna also loved collecting junk, her words not mine. She collected little treasures, do-dads and thingamobs; especially old ones, especially turtles, especially brass and bronze ones. She loved old things. She loved bible stories. She loved handmade things. She loved facebook. She loved homegrown food. She loved stirring up shit. She loved smoking on the back porch and visiting with whoever might drop by. She loved her dog. She loved us. Later in her life, Deanna took up the sometimes difficult job of keeping family members connected. She would not settle for a text, persisting until she finally got a live person on the line. We will all miss those calls. In her final years she was blessed to live next door to Jamie. She was so proud to watch him, as she would say, “Come into his own.” For her, there was no sweeter joy.

Deanna is survived by her siblings, Rose Mary Solar and spouse James (Jimmy) M. Solar, Thurmond U (Ted) Thompson; nieces and nephews: James Rodney Solar and Trish, Jonnie Marie and JR, Nikoma Jeanne Thompson and Micah Luftig, Matthew Carl LeBlanc and Kaylan LeBlanc; greats: Rosemary Gayle Mancuso, Andrew Beggs; Niccolo', Valerio, Marcello, and Luciano Luftig; Taylor Dupree, Ezra LeBlanc. 
Deanna is preceded in death by her husband, Edward Beasley; father, Thurmond U. Thompson, Sr. and mother, Jonnie M. Stafford.

Deanna Ruth was born in Baton Rouge in 1952. Second daughter of T.U. and Jonnie Ruth. Also known as Aunt Dinner to her nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews, not because she was a great cook, she wasn’t, but because it was easier for babies to say. She was the crazy, single aunt; easy to laugh, highly opinionated, and a tendency toward cringiness, Aunt Deanna always kept things interesting. And though she never had much by way of material things, she gave us lots of her time. Which, of course, is infinitely more valuable.

Deanna had an enduring interest in family history. She spent, quite literally, thousands of hours in libraries throughout Louisiana and Mississippi poring over microfiche and microfilm searching for documents, census records, news stories, deeds, birth and death announcements. She braved heat and bugs trudging through graveyards to lay her own eyes on tombstones of relatives long passed. Through determination and perseverance, she managed to trace our family back over five hundred years to far away origins. She was fastidious about having primary documents for her research, never adding a new relative based on hunch or hearsay or probability. She loved to gaze at photos and stories she’d found with any who’d sit with her. Sadly, search as she might, she never found the rumored familial connection to Woodrow Wilson. She would sometimes reach out and connect with new found relatives. I once had a Korean classmate inform me, much to my surprise, that she was my cousin. Aunt Deanna had connected with her dad through genealogy research. It turned out she was adopted into the family as an infant, and when I see her at class reunions every 10 years or so, we still refer to each other as cuz.

Please accept our sympathy and prayers for comfort and peace for the whole family. Ms. Deanna was a wonderful neighbor, and her kindness will not be forgotten. We will truly miss her. May God bless her loved ones during this difficult time, and may her soul rest in eternal peace.

OBITUARY

Deanna Beasley

August 26, 1952 – June 30, 2025

Rabenhorst Funeral Home & Crematory East

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