Happy 90th Birthday, Bishop Beeler

The family of Vernon Beeler is having a celebration for his 90th birthday and have asked for memory sheets for his book.

This is probably the way Bishop Beeler might have remembered our family. Since then the children have all grown up and have children of their own. Richard, my husband, passed away in 1996. John, the eldest boy, passed away in 2004, with the same heart problem that Richard had. Linda is married and has six children and one grandchild. Maria is married and has four children. James is married and has four children.

Both Linda and James still live in the San Diego area, while Maria and her family live in Northern California, Susanville, and I, Janet, also moved to Northern California to Lake Almanor in 1999.

The memories I have of Bishop Beeler is he was always prepared with a memorable message whether it was at a Sunday School Board meeting or from the pulpit. Even when he did some woodworking on our home in La Jolla, he was giving out good advice.

One talk he gave from the pulpit which I never forgot was about exercising his eyes. He evidently had eye problems and he was told by the Doctor to do certain kind of exercises "to work as hard as he could". His talk was on "how do we know when we have worked as hard as we can or when we have done our very best". What is our very best? It was very thought provoking to me--it must have been 35 or so years ago but I never forgot it.

Bishop Beeler was a great role model to me in my life. He was a counselor in the bishopric when we had a very young family and before we were transfered out of 7th Ward in 1969. He later did some work for us at our home in La Jolla. He taught me a great indexing system for my genealogical work. I admired his Grandfather clock so much that he had made that we bought a Grandmother clock for our new home in La Jolla.

I am pleased to have known Bishop Beeler and wish him a very Happy Birthday!