March 2, 1919 to August 10, 2010
On March 2, 1919, a daughter, Carol Elizabeth Beedle was born to Carol Elizabeth Simpson Beedle and Granville Leo Beedle in Orland, California. Carol was the third child, and the first daughter in the family that eventually totaled eight children. However, the oldest child Laurie was killed at five years of age by a reckless driver when he and his grandmother were getting off a streetcar in San Francisco, and Guthrie, the second to the youngest child, died shortly after childbirth. Carol’s surviving siblings were from oldest to youngest, Lynn, Virginia (Gin), Jane, John and Richard (Dick).
It was common in that era for the oldest daughter to assume responsibility for the care of her parents in their later years, and Carol fulfilled this responsibility admirably. The family lived in Orland until 1921, spent about a year in San Francisco, at a residence on Geary Boulevard until 1922, then moved to what became a long-time family residence at 29 Renz Road, Mill Valley, California until 1924, then moved to South Mariposa Avenue in Los Angeles from 1924 to 1925. In 1925 the family moved to 803 Normandie in Hollywood until 1928, when they moved six blocks north to 1426 North Normandie, residing there until 1932. It is quite obvious that the Beedle family got around, and in 1932 they moved to 1636 North Verdugo Road in Glendale, where they remained until 1937, when the family returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, residing at 1611 Spruce Street in Berkeley for about a year before moving to 1505 Arch Street in Berkeley, where they remained until 1940. During the family’s residence in Berkeley, Carol attended the University of California. The Beedle family then returned to the family residence at 29 Renz Road.
As children, Mom and all her siblings spent time with their grandparents, Lynn and Mammee Simpson at their home in Santa Barbara. During the summer, a popular outing was swimming, and this was done first thing in the morning, with grandfather, Lynn C. Simpson taking them before he went to work. Now the way this was handled in the household was that anyone who wished to go swimming in the morning was asked to declare their intentions the night before. You didn’t have to go if you preferred not to, but if you said you were going..by golly, you were going. In the summertime, Santa Barbara is prone to morning fog, sometimes quite thick. So, if you woke up on a foggy morning, and your heavy, wool swimsuit which had been hanging outside on the clothes line all night was wet and cold, you were fully expected to struggle into it, bear the shock and head off to the beach. I suppose there was some comfort in sharing your pain with your brothers and sisters.
Carol attended Ramona Elementary School in Los Angeles from 1925 to 1930, Le Conte Junior High School in Glendale, California from 1933 to 1934, but moved on to and graduated from Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in Glendale, California on June 15th, 1934, and Glendale High School in Glendale, California from 1934 to 1937. Carol attended the University of California at Berkeley and graduated in 1941 with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics, an education that was to serve her well later with a family that included four children.
Following graduation from the University of California, Carol worked for the Del Monte Company in the quality control department, inspecting cans of fruits and vegetables to determine the quantity of foreign matter in the product. I also have a vague recollection that she also worked at the U.S. Mint in San Francisco for a short period of time.
It was during this time, the seven months following graduation, that Carol met Don Healy. Don was a student at the University of Washington and enrolled in ROTC. His unit was sent to the Fort Baker, Fort Cronkite batteries in Marin County, California, just a few miles from Mill Valley, to train in the Coast Artillery, firing the big, disappearing guns that were employed by the U.S. Army then. They met at a USO dance. At this stage, it was not a red-hot romance, but rather a serious acquaintance. With the outbreak of WWII on December 7, 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Don immediately returned to Seattle and was shipped out shortly thereafter to Hawaii. Carol and Don corresponded for several years; and it’s by letter that they agreed to marry. Don flew back to Mill Valley on a 2-week leave for the wedding on January 8th, 1945, and two weeks later was back on duty at Hickam Field, Hawaii, where he was in charge of the Instrument Shops. At the war’s end, Don flew back to Mill Valley to join Carol, arriving very shortly before their first son Don (me) arrived.
Don and Carol settled down in Mill Valley and Dad set up a watch repair business. Their first residence was a rental in the home of Mrs. Connelly’s place at the junction of Cascade Dr. and Monte Vista Avenue in Mill Valley. A while later they moved into a residence at 25 Renz Rd, Mill Valley in a structure that was originally built as a library for the books, primarily law books, of Sylvester Confucius Simpson, Carol’s Great-grandfather. The lower level had a kitchen, bathroom and living room/bedroom, and the upstairs was a large room that was also used as a bedroom. To get from the downstairs to the upstairs you had to go outside and walk around. After a couple of years, Carol and Don were able to purchase their own home at 54 Bayview in Mill Valley, a small, two-bedroom house a few blocks from the town center and just up a set of stairs from the Mill Valley Public Library, one of the original Carnegie libraries. It was here that the second child, Marilyn, was born. On August 22, 1949, their third child, Kenneth James was born, but succumbed to SIDS on October 25; living only two months. With the arrival of Christopher Allen Healy in the offing, Carol and Don moved to 7 Robertson Terrace. The new house was a three-bedroom place suitable for the expanding family with a full basement in which Don could use as his watch and jewelry repair shop. The house was quite comfortable, but the neighbors were rather interesting to say the least, and about 4 years later, in 1955, the family moved back to the old family homestead at 29 Renz Road. Mom’s father and mother, Carol and Granville Beedle vacated 29 Renz Road and moved about 50 yards to the library, now residence at 25 Renz Road just before the last addition to the family of David Granville Healy.
Carol was a homemaker during the children’s early childhood which as a bit of a challenge on one income. Carol could stretch a dollar farther than most thought possible, utilizing her home economics degree fully. “She sewed some of our clothes, made any costumes we needed, gave us haircuts, and provided her children with the most wonderful, nourishing meals on a shoestring budget”. It wasn’t until much later in life that her children really came to appreciate the fantastic manner in which Mom took care of the family. For all those early years, we thought that the way Mom handled the household was the way everyone else did it.
During the early years while the children were in elementary school, Carol was an active member of the P.T.A, particularly in the early years while the older of us were enrolled in the Old Mill Elementary School.
In the mid-1960s, Carol’s father, Granville Beedle left retirement for the second time to start the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce. Shortly after it was started, Carol started working there as well on a part-time basis as his assistant. However, in 1970 at the age of 82, Granville decided to retire for the third and last time and Carol took over on a full-time basis, retiring in 1978. Over the years Mill Valley had transformed from a rather sleepy little suburb of San Francisco to become a vibrant community of its own, and the role of Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce was more than a full-time position.
As mentioned earlier, Carol being the oldest daughter was responsible for taking care of her parents in their later years. This certainly does imply that other siblings did not do their share, for they certainly did, but with Don and Carol living literally a stone’s throw away from her parents, much of the responsibility had rested on her shoulders. Granville passed away on 4/27/1977, with his wife preceding him in death by many years. Carol was aware that her husband Don was very fond of the Seattle area where he had grown up and with her responsibilities to her parents fulfilled, she told Don that if he would like to return to the Seattle area, they were free to do so, a tribute to Carol’s over-riding sense of fairness. I’m reasonably sure that Carol would have preferred to remain in Mill Valley, but out of respect to Don’s wishes they packed up everything, and I mean everything, and moved to the Richmond Highlands area, at 1022 NW 177th Place, Shoreline, Washington just a short distance from the Richmond Beach area where Don had spent his early years.
Very shortly after moving into their home in the Richland Highlands both Don and Carol became very active members of the Shoreline Historical Society. Both served terms as president. Don passed away in 1986, but Mom continued in various capacities essentially until her death. In honor of her service there her memorial service was held in the Shoreline Historical Museum, which had originally been the Ronald School House.
Carol had so many wonderful attributes. She was a fantastic homemaker, teacher, gardener, confectioner, seamstress, knitter, and an excellent businesswoman. She was very well read, and very knowledgeable on a wide variety of subjects. She greatly enjoyed travel and visited England, Germany, and Australia as well as much of the United States. Carol was independent and living on her own to the very end. Carol was also very interested in family genealogy, and together with her brother Lynn Beedle, researched much of the family history that is part and parcel of this website.
Carol passed away in her own home on August 10, 2010, at the age of 91 and while she is greatly missed, she has left a superlative legacy for her family and friends.
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Carol’s Obituary
Carol B. HEALY Carol B. Healy of Shoreline, WA was born March 2, 1919 in Orland, CA to Granville and Carol Beedle. She passed away at her home on August 10, 2010 at the age of 91. She was the second of six siblings and spent her childhood in Hollywood, Glendale, and Mill Valley, California. In 1941, she graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.S. in Home Economics. She married Donald L. Healy of Seattle in Mill Valley on January 8, 1945, and together they raised four children. Carol worked for the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce from 1964 until 1978. Initially she assisted her father, Granville Beedle, before assuming his mantle as Secretary-Manager upon his retirement. Carol and Don returned to the Shoreline area in 1978 and became very active in the Shoreline Historical Society and the Shoreline Historical Museum. Carol loved doing historical/genealogical research and archived pictures, photographs and records from early Shoreline, Richmond Beach and Lake Forest Park for the museum. Carol was a major force and presence in the lives of family members and friends, but in the quietest way imaginable, simply a magnificent lady. She was a fantastic mother, homemaker, knitter, seamstress, confectioner, gardener, traveler and reader with a mind open to new things and new experiences. She was loved by all and had a marvelous sense of humor. Her family will remember her fine example and will grieve over the absence of her fantastic peanut brittle at special occasions. Carol was independent to the end, living on her own, driving, handling her own financial affairs, planting beautiful flowers, volunteering and supporting her local Starbucks. Carol is survived by four children; Don (Liz), Marilyn, Christopher (Melinda), and David (Sherry): five grandchildren; Teresa (Curt), Monique (Heath), Alissa (Marc), Onwyn and Thatcher: and two great-grandchildren; Jessica and Lauren; a brother and sister-in-law, Dick and Dorothy; a sister- and brother-in-law Jane and Roger; and a brother-in-law, Page, and a sister-in-law, Ella. A celebration of Carol’s life will be held Sunday, September 5, 2010, at 3:00 pm at the Shoreline Historical Museum, 749 N. 175th, Shoreline, WA 98155. Donations may be made to the Shoreline Historical Museum, P.O. Box 55594, Shoreline, WA 98155