after graduating from Nutley High School, he joined the Navy. He was serving as a radio operator on a destroyer escort headed for the Sea of Japan when the War in the Pacific ended. He met Ann Nesmith in Jacksonville when small ships were being decommissioned in Green Cove Springs. They were married on June 10, 1948.
After receiving his Bachelor of Theology, he became the pastor at the CMA church in Camden, NJ. In 1954 he and Ann were called to the mission field and after a year studying French in France and moved to a mission station in French West Africa located in an area that would soon become the country of Mali. It was first of three postings in Mali and Burkina Faso in which he served as an evangelist and linguist.
In 1963 he and Ann left the CMA and moved to Macintosh, SD where for two years he was the pastor for three Presbyterian churches. In 1965 he was recruited by the United Bible Society to be the Bible
Secretary for Africa. With Kinshasa, Congo and subsequently Nairobi, Kenya as his home base he traveled in 27 countries throughout Africa helping local people set up systems that enabled them to put the Bible in the hands of Africans.
In 1971, the family moved back to the U.S. permanently and he became the pastor of the Hillside and Valley Presbyterian Church in Orange, NJ. While there he continued his education earning a Master of Sacred Theology from New York Theological Seminary.
In the course of ministering to the members of the church congregation he developed an interest in Pastoral Counseling. He earned a Doctor of Ministry in Psychology from Andover Newton Seminary and began a new career as a Psychotherapist. He opened a private practice specializing in Family and Marriage counseling first in NJ and later in NH when he and Ann moved to Eastman in Grantham,
NH. In 2004 they moved to Westminster Woods on Julington Creek where he enjoyed exercising and playing golf year around without being cold. Howard had a life long love of music. He played the harmonica and clarinet and loved to sing. He was blessed with perfect pitch he sang in church choirs throughout his life. Upon retirement he sang with secular choirs including the Eastmanaires in New Hampshire and the Jacksonville Masterworks in Florida.
He was also gifted in language. He was fluent in French, Senufo and Bambara (the latter two learned while in West Africa). He loved to play and exercise. At various times throughout his life, he
enjoyed swimming, biking, jogging, ping pong, tennis and golf. He will be remembered as a man of integrity and courage with a keen sense of humor.
Howard was predeceased by his son, Howard Moreland Beardslee, Jr., his parents, Fred Edward and Phoebe (nee Moreland); his sister, Elma Terry; and his older brothers John Alexander MacDougall and Hugh Harry MacDougall. He is survived by wife of 73 years Ann Nesmith Beardslee; his son Keith
Beardslee and wife Rosamond Seidel; his daughter, Beth Beardslee-Romeo: his daughter-in-law Marilyn Beardslee; his grandchildren Will Beardslee, Katharine Beardslee, Joyce Beardslee, Gina Beardslee, Nicole (Romeo) Dunham, Cara (Romeo) Barry, Ethan Romeo; and 5 great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held in the auditorium at Westminster Woods on Julington Creek in Jacksonville FL at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, 2022. Memorial donations may be made to Church World Service, PO Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515 (cwsglobal.org)
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.GreenlawnJacksonville.com for the Beardslee family.
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