Her Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008, at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Williston. The Rev. Dennis Schafer and the Rev. Raymond Aydt will concelebrate and interment will follow in the Riverview Cemetery.
A vigil with rosary is at 7 p.m. on Friday evening at the Everson Funeral Home.
Marie Eveleen Hagan Beddow was born in Williston on April 30, 1915, the second of four children to Dr. Edward Jordan and Joan Garvey Hagan. Her parents, each Irish-Catholic, blessed this earth with four wonderful children in rather short order, beginning with Marie Kathleen (Kay), followed by Eveleen, then Edward Jordan (Bud), and concluding with Marguerite Genevieve (Gen).
This extremely close and very loving Irish clan lived an enviably happy life in a small town on the Great Plains of North Dakota, where her father was a busy horse-and-buggy era general practice doctor, a key figure in the founding of Mercy Hospital in Williston. Her father’s death in 1928 left Joan to raise these four children by herself, an event which Eveleen was herself to later experience in her married life, and from which she no doubt drew courage and fortitude. She attended local schools and graduated with the Williston High School Class of 1933. Eveleen attended the College of Saint Catherine, St. Paul. While working in Minneapolis in the 1940’s and rooming with her sister Gen, the sisters enjoyed another housemate, the original Betty Crocker persona. Fond memories of delicious meals resulted from those days.
Gen’s friendship with Donald and Vivian Ryan opened another chapter in Ev’s life. Viv’s brother Willard George Beddow, newly arrived stateside from military service with the Army Air Corps, European Theater, fell in love with Ev, her young brown Irish eyes captivating the "just a bit" older blue-eyed man of English heritage, who had a love of music, especially big-band era, an accomplished saxophonist, who had toured with the Canadian Red Jackets and Tiny Specht’s Orchestra. United in marriage on Aug. 16, 1947, at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church, in Williston, the newlyweds settled in Willard’s home of Virginia, Minnesota, where they were blessed with the arrival of their children, welcoming first Edward George, three years later Timothy Donald, next Patrick Hagan, and finally the daughter who was at birth, and was to remain always, "the apple of her daddy’s eye", Mary Teresa.
Ev enjoyed living in the tree-laden North Country, the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes; however she took a while to adjust to the geographic change from the wide-open vista of the drier northern Great Plains. She was very active in community and church affairs, including president of the local Catholic Daughters of the Americas through her Sacred Heart parish, and enjoyed golf, bridge and participation in the Cub Scouting activities of her children. With her husband and children, she enjoyed boating on the lakes, camping in the north woods of Minnesota, and skiing in the winter. Nearly every summer, Ev would travel with her four children, sometimes taking the Great Northern Railroad’s Empire Builder, or more often by automobile, to Williston to visit her family.
A prominent businessman and civic participant on the Mesabi Iron Range of northern Minnesota, Willard was the owner of Reliance Chevrolet and Beddow Music Company. A graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in Architectural Engineering, who also held a teaching certificate, Willard moved the family to Cupertino, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay area, in 1963, to join St. Joseph Contractors as business manager.
The trip by car over the Rocky Mountains was exciting but treacherous. In the 1957 Chevrolet Nomad station wagon with attached trailer, the children, and the family dog, Spike, Ev and Willard were courageous adventurers, trailblazers seeking to re-establish the family in the land of opportunity. Misfortunes plagued the travels, including severe weather, flat tires and the catastrophic accidental death of the dog. Ultimately, the goal was achieved, and life was good. This lasted but a short while, when Willard’s untimely death on a July summer’s night in 1964, presented Eveleen the risks and challenges of raising four children alone as a young widow, in California, near San Francisco, in the 1960’s! Always a person of extremely solid judgment, and blessed with a sense of wisdom Solomon himself would envy, Ev promptly moved her young family back to the safer haven of the Midwest, to her childhood hometown of Williston.
Raising her family and working at her sister’s children’s clothing store, Gen Hagan’s Youth Shop, Ev still found time to participate in parish activities at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church. She rejoined her high school alumnae in the Literary Study Club, a women’s reading and discussion group of which she was a charter member. The club enjoyed the distinction as having been one of the oldest such groups in the United States. As a founding member of the group, at its disbandment after more than fifty years of existence Ev received the handwritten record books containing minutes of every meeting held. At the time of her death, Eveleen was the last surviving member of the club. Over the years, she enjoyed socializing with friends in the Williston Rocking Chair Club, each dinner-dance and themed gala providing much enjoyment for all.
Eveleen displayed a classic approach to clothing and beautiful accessories, as well as an appreciation for Waterford crystal, fine dark chocolate, framed family photos and for "writing things down!" Her happiest moments (aside from watching her favorite Lakers basketball performances) were those where she was able to be with her family, including her grandchildren, and in later years, the great-grandchildren, by whom she was always referred to as "Nana."
In recent years, Eveleen has enjoyed visiting during the Thanksgiving holiday her son Patrick and his wife Lisa and their children, in Billings, and then traveling to Texas, to be with her daughter Mary and son-in-law Jack at their home in Midland for the Christmas holiday. She would return to Billings to celebrate her April birthday with family before returning to Williston, where she lived independently in her home assisted by her devoted and much beloved friend, Tana Conlin, until August of this year.
Eveleen is survived by her children Edward George Beddow, Healdsburg, CA, Timothy Donald Beddow, M.D. (Doreen), Westlake, OH, Patrick Hagan Beddow (Lisa), Billings, MT, Mary Teresa Blake (Jack E., Jr.), Midland, TX; by her grandchildren Patrick Banaise (Amy) Blake, Spencer Evans Blake, Kathleen Elizabeth Beddow, Patrick Garvey Nels Beddow, Riley Marie Blake, Christopher Stephen Beddow, Meghan Elizabeth Beddow, Devon Marie Beddow, Andrew Timothy Beddow, and George Edward Beddow; by her great-grandchildren Samuel Banaise Blake, Sawyer William Blake, and Sterling Jack Blake; by her sister Marguerite Genevieve Hagan with whom she shared the joy of daily life for the past 30 years; and by numerous nieces and nephews.
Eveleen was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Willard, an infant child (Timothy), her sister Kathleen (Mrs. Peter A. Nygaard), her brother Edward, who died this past June, and scores of lifelong friends.
Eveleen will be remembered by a verse in the Book of Micah: He has showed you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, and to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)
REQUIESCAT IN PACE MARIE EVELEEN HAGAN BEDDOW XXX.IV.MCMXV – VII.X.MMVIII
Special thanks to Ev’s nephew Dr. Michael Hagan and to the wonderful staff at St. John’s Liggett Cottage for the tender care and love that allowed Ev to have the very finest in her last days with us.
Friends may visit the Everson Funeral Home Web site at www.eversonfh.com to share thoughts and remembrances with Ev’s family.
Friends may call at the Everson Funeral Home of Williston Friday from 9 a.m until 7 p.m. The casket will be closed at the church for the hour preceding the service.
If anyone wishes to extend memorials in Ev’s memory and honor, Ev’s family would appreciate contributions to Williston Meals on Wheels-Heritage Center, St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish or school or the charity of one’s choice.
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