Wesley was born April 15, 1924 in Fairport, NY, the second son of 3 children born to Irving and Pearl Beard. His parents split up when he was 5 and he started school in Caledonia. Then he moved back to East Rochester where he attended grade school. He went to Monroe High School until 10th grade.
Wesley's first job was delivering telegrams; then he worked in a restaurant as a busboy. When the US entered WWII, he enlisted in the US Navy and went to boot camp in Newport, RI. He enjoyed telling stories about seeing the Big Bands and star singers in New York City. After an illness prevented him from completing training as a radio operator, he served for over a year in New Orleans de-magnetizing ships, then in Galveston, TX, before his company joined with the Marine Corp at Camp Pendleton and formed their third hospital. They served in the Pacific and spent time on the islands of Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Guam, and Japan. He was discharged from the service at the Naval Station on Seneca Lake, NY. He worked in an auto service station after the war. Soon, he was hired at Eastman Kodak Company, where he worked for 30 years, at first operating and maintaining a slide production machine, then as a millwright, until he retired at an early age of 59. In retirement he enjoyed free golf as the part time golf cart maintainer at Webster (NY) golf course.
While stationed in New Orleans, he met a woman, Helena. They had a son, Wesley James, whom he did not know until years later.
He met Ruth Nohle, a Strong nursing student, at Parsells Avenue Baptist Church. They were married at the East Avenue Presbyterian Church, and lived their first year in the tenant house next door to Ruth's parents on East Main Street, Rochester, NY. Later they rented a house off of Norton St near Goodman. Ruth and Wes had 6 children together, five of whom lived to adulthood. Much of their children’s school years, they lived in West Webster, NY on Adeline Drive.
Wes always loved fishing, hunting, and camping. He led the West Webster, NY Boy Scout Troop for a few years. For many years he took his family tent-camping to his favorite fishing spots. He almost always had a fishing boat named Di-Da-La after his first three children, David, Larry, and Diane. Wesley was very active at Webster Baptist Church and Webster Masonic Lodge before moving to Florida in 2002. Wes was honored with the Distinguished Service Award for his many years of service to the Masonic Lodge. At the time of his passing he had been a Mason for over 62 years.
Wes and Ruth lived together in Punta Gorda, FL until Oct 2018 when they moved to an independent living facility near Rochester, NY to be closer to family in their twilight years. Wes was still playing golf this past fall with help from his son Jeff and friends. After Ruth experienced health challenges, they spent a few months in assisted living near Rochester, NY, and then moved back to Florida on Christmas Eve 2019 to the assisted living facility Brookdale Port Charlotte. Wes was looking forward to playing golf again soon, and was planning on seeing friends in Alligator Park at the Saturday potluck when he experienced severe stomach pain, which was later found to be a ruptured abdominal aortic stint. A family decision was made to make Wesley comfortable in hospice for his last days rather than subject him to the trauma of surgery, with no guarantee he would survive it. Most of the immediate family was present when he passed Thursday Feb 21, 2020 at 9:10 AM. He is survived by Ruth Beard, his wife of over 73 years, sons David, Larry and Jeffrey, and daughters Diane Muck and Wendy Vine, eight grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren, plus several nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of his life will be held at 1:00pm, Sunday Feb 23, 2020 at the Unity Church of Peace, 1250 Rutledge Street, North Port, FL 34288. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Tidewell Hospice at www.tidewell.org
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