March 8, 1933 to February 23, 2019
Nancy Beaham of Kansas City died peacefully in her sleep on February 23, 2019.
Nancy was born in Kansas City to George and Catherine Davidson. She grew up in Kansas City and graduated from Southwest High School. Nancy attended the University of Missouri at Columbia where she was in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and was a BOTAR before meeting and marrying the love of her life, Gordon Taylor Beaham, III, in December 1954.
In the early years of their marriage, Nancy and Gordon lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia and Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands while Gordon serviced in the Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) unit of the US Navy. After two years of what at times seemed to be an extended honeymoon, the couple moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where Gordon attended Harvard Business School.
In 1958, the young Beahams returned to Kansas City. Gordon spent two years working at Proctor and Gamble, before joining the family firm, Faultless Starch, in 1960. Nancy became a mother in 1959 when their daughter Catherine Grace was born. In the next few years, Nancy and Gordon had three more children, Carolyn Louise, Robert Boyd, and David Gordon. The family home on Wyncote Lane was a friendly and welcoming place to an extended community of neighbors and family friends above “the creek” –a tributary of Brush Creek.
As their children grew, Nancy became an active member of the Kansas City Junior League of Kansas City, and a docent at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. Throughout many decades she joined her husband as an active supporter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City.
In the 1970s, Nancy went to work at Faultless Starch as the company was beginning to diversify its brands. In an effort that was years ahead of its time, Nancy was a champion of the Bon Ami brand, answering consumer letters personally, and ensuring that the brand remained true to its natural, healthy formulations.
Nancy was a wonderful friend –vivacious, caring, and generous. Her friendships in Kansas City and around the world meant the world to her. She was known for her laughter, and for adding a creative and unconventional spark of joy to occasions.
Nancy grieved at the untimely death of her son David in 2011, and Gordon in 2016. She is survived by her children Cathy, Carolyn, and Bob, and her grandchildren Taylor, Parker, Robert, Grace, and Lily. She is also survived by her sons- in-law, Geoff Smith and Roy West, daughter-in-law, Tricia Beaham, and an extended circle of loving family members and friends with whom she celebrated life.
Funeral services will be held at Saint Andrews Church on Tuesday, March 5, at 3:00. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes gifts to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kansas City, or to a charity of your choice.
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