Benjamin J. Beazley

Ben Beazley, of Toledo Ohio, died on September 25 of congestive heart failure. He was 94 years old. Ben was born in Chicago in 1930, the oldest of 8 children born to Benjamin Beazley and Agnes Gaffney Beazley. Ben graduated from Chicago’s Leo High School in 1948, and he was a proud South Sider and avid White Sox fan. (Fortunately, he did not live to see them break the record for most losses in one season; that happened on September 27).

After high school, Ben worked several construction jobs while in the Coast Guard reserve waiting to be called up. Ben married Patricia McNamara in 1952 and started basic training several months later. With his typical good fortune, he narrowly avoided an assignment that would have kept him at sea most of the time. Instead, he landed the Coast Guard’s most sought-after duty: on the crew of a search and rescue boat out of Southwest Harbor, on Maine’s Mt. Desert Island. He was joined in Maine by his wife and infant daughter Trish; his son Mike was born there the following year. He loved his two years of active duty, and he enjoyed telling tales of life on the tugboat and interesting rescue missions. He often quoted the Coast Guard motto, “You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back.” He almost learned the truth of that maxim one stormy New Year’s Eve, when he was swept off the bow of the ship while out at sea. Fortunately, he was able to grab onto a rope as he fell, and a fellow Coastie heard his shouts and helped to haul him back aboard.

Ben and his family moved back to Chicago in 1955, and he was able to earn about three years of college credit while attending night school thanks to the GI Bill. His children Johnny and Mary Beth were born while he worked for Catholic Digest and then Airco Aluminum, which transferred him to Toledo in 1963 to be national sales manager. When Airco was acquired by another major firm, which closed the Toledo operations, he started a manufacturers’ rep company, “Building Products Marketing,” with Dan Sczesny. After he retired from this business, he did part-time work for Catholic Cemeteries for over ten years.

Ben was someone who enjoyed life. He grew up in a large and loving family, and he had so much self-confidence that when someone was rude or mean to him, he would feel sorry that the person was having such a bad day. He loved being with other people, his family most of all. When he turned fifty, his seven siblings and their spouses drove from Chicago to spend the weekend with him as a surprise. He wore a huge smile that whole weekend, delighted to spend time with all of his siblings and all of his children and grandchildren (only 3 of them at that time). In his later years, at family events, he loved to watch his grandchildren interact with each other. He was fond of saying, “We have the nicest family.” If that is true, it’s no doubt because of the love he shared with us all.

Ben loved sports: both competing in them and watching them. When he was young he benefitted from the numerous social programs meant to keep kids off the streets in depression-era Chicago. He played every sport he could, but he focused on baseball, basketball, and Chicago 16-inch softball. In high school, he worked at his uncle’s drug store and at the concession stands at Shewbridge Field, where every kind of baseball and softball game was played. Traveling teams would often challenge local talent, and they’d sometimes pull the kids from the concession stands if they needed more players. Ben remembered fondly playing against some of the women’s teams (or “girl teams,” as they were called then). He also played Donkey baseball, which required the players to be riding or at least touching a donkey while they completed most of the tasks of the game. It is fair to note that both the human and donkey players got frustrated with each other. In Toledo, Ben coached his son’s baseball teams in elementary school and coached high schoolers in junior and senior Knothole ball.

Ben loved to compete in almost any kind of game, from pitching pennies to horse to elaborate, made-up frisbee games with his friend Don Rohan (beginning just after the flying disks were first on the market). In his 30's he transitioned to adult basketball in Toledo before discovering tennis in his early 40's, soon growing to love it. He quickly became an avid local club competitor and captained inter-club teams and then eventually senior teams until he was just short of 80.

After beginning with Pinochle in his youth, Ben evolved into a devoted duplicate bridge player. He was a long-time life master and loved the competition and camaraderie at the Toledo Bridge Center; he also traveled to enjoy challenging, larger competitions. He loved the sage advice from his one-time instructor and then frequent partner, Blade Bridge columnist Phil Tanber. When faced with a vexing challenge in Bridge or in life, Phil said, “always take correct action.” Ben eventually became a sought-after Bridge instructor, teaching extension courses at area country clubs, the University of Toledo, and Lourdes University until he was 90. Even in his final months, he enjoyed online bridge when he couldn’t attend in person, though he dearly missed the many partners and interactions at the Toledo Bridge Center.

Ben loved traveling and especially planning to travel. He served as de facto tour guide and planner for trips with Pat and friends to Europe, Hawaii, and locations all across the lower 48. Ben and Pat developed a particular connection to Hilton Head and vacationed with family there for over 40 years. In the 1960's, they brought the family up to Northern Michigan, and the following generations have picked up and continued that connection, a connection he indeed loved.

Ben was married to an artist who also wanted to change the world. He supported her civic and artistic activities, but his own ambitions were more modest. He did public service – he served as a lector at Gesu for decades, and volunteered to teach adults to read. He helped Pat deliver Mobile Meals for many years as well.

Ben loved to read aloud, and he combined that love with public service by reading the Toledo Blade aloud on the local radio station for the blind before improvements in technology let folks in need to get audio more easily. Ben and his reading partner, Warren Rayman, would occasionally get sideways with management in their efforts to make each other laugh when a story called for it.

Ben’s greatest service, though, was probably just in the way he interacted with people in his daily life. He loved to get a reaction, particularly a laugh, and he always enjoyed leaving people with a smile.

Ben was a ridiculously doting Grandfather, and he delighted in getting to know each of his nine grandchildren and later, his great-grandchildren. He read aloud to them at every opportunity, and all of them learned from Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose, that “a host, above all, must be nice to his guest.” Ben also loved to get ice cream for his grandchildren, with the added benefit that he could get a cone for himself. All the grandchildren learned quickly to lick all sides of the cone, for if the cones started to drip on one side, grandpa would grab them cones to “clean them up” (by licking them, of course). Ice cream must not be wasted.

Ben loved to share life, news, and nuggets of wisdom with his family and friends. One of his favorite sayings was “it is better to be rich and healthy than to be sick and poor.” He was always grateful for modern conveniences, noting “we live better than the kings of old.” He was a lifelong Democrat, and each year on April 15, he noted that he was glad to pay taxes to support the government. He liked to quote Oliver Wendell Holmes’s statement that “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” He was greatly disturbed by the events of January 6, 2021, and he worried about the impact of greed on America and the world. He loved to talk politics, and would call many friends to discuss their common efforts to solve all of the world’s problems. In his later years he and George Glasser talked almost daily to discuss how to face such challenges from both sides of the aisle.

Ben worked in the building materials sector much of his life, and he loved to do home improvement projects. He and his father built dormers on the family’s home in Chicago, and he made significant changes to almost every room in his Toledo home on Hopewell Place, where he and Pat lived from 1963 to the early 21st century. He knocked down walls, tore out cupboards, squared off archways, and even added on two rooms. He always had a plan for the next project, even in his last year on the planet. He managed to lasso all available children and grandchildren, and particularly son-in-law Dick Sanders when he wanted muscle to help him achieve his various and sundry ideas.

Ben considered himself very lucky in life, from being born into a loving and supportive family to marrying a great life companion. He successfully provided the same love and support to the family that he and Pat established. He lived a life with a few rough challenges but few regrets, though he did express a final regret: he wanted to make it to Election Day to vote for Kamala Harris, and to vote again for Sherrod Brown, Marcy Kaptur, and every other Democrat on the ticket. He was happy to know that his children became lifelong Democrats (so far), as well. He was a little sad to realize that he didn’t raise any bridge players.

Ben was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Ann Beazley Rowe, his beloved wife Patricia, his son Johnny, his daughter Trish Sanders, and his grandson Ben Sanders. He is survived by his son Mike (Juliann Wood), daughter Mary Beth (David Pillion), and son-in-law Dick Sanders.

He is also survived by grandchildren Lisa Beazley Kling (T.J.), Jeff Beazley (Diana), Sarah Abu-Absi (Dan), Kate Beazley (Drew Lindsay), Bethany Sanders, Laura Sanders (Dave Lewis), Allison Leininger, Betsy Pillion (Charlie O’Hara), and Annie Pillion (David Rosmarin), as well as great-grandchildren Kylie Beazley Creeger (Alex), Drew, Evan, and Mathew Beazley; Grady, Seamus, and Arlo Kling; Sam and Mabel Abu-Absi; Mona Lindsay; Juniper Sanders; Kai and Quinn Rosmarin; and Morgan O’Hara. He also leaves one great-great grandchild, Charlie Creeger.

Ben’s surviving family also includes his brothers Joe (Pat), Ed (Renata), and Rich (the late Judy), as well as sisters Agnes O’Donnell (the late Robert), Helen Dunn (Joseph), and Kathy Perek (the late Raymond), and sister-in-law Patricia Reidy McNamara (the late Frank).

Those who wish to make contributions in Ben’s honor may consider Hospice of Northwest Ohio or a charity of the donor’s choice. The family will accept visitors at Walker Funeral Home on Sylvania Avenue on Sunday, November 10, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Services will be at Gesu Church on Monday, November 11, at 10:30 a.m., with visitation beginning at the church at 9:30 a.m. that morning. Inurnment will be private.