On This Day: November 29

1915: My mother, Beaulah Belle “Bea” Yawman, was born in Walton Township, Labette County, Kansas, the eighth and youngest child of William and Myrtle (Snider) Yawman.

Mom was twice married. In 1935 she married Archie E. Sherell in Johnson County, Kansas; they had three children, Deanna Dale, Arnold Lee, and Archie Anthony Neil. Mom and Archie were divorced in 1945 in Los Angeles County, California.

In January 1953, she married my father J. J. “Jack” Spurlock in Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona. With their marriage, my mother added another daughter to her family: Gloria Jane, my dad’s daughter from his previous marriage. Two children were born to Bea and Jack: me and my sister Jennifer.

Although Mom worked outside the home from time to time, she was first and foremost a mother. Here is one of my favorite photos of her:

Grandson Ron, great-granddaughter Christen, Mom, great-
granddaughter Rachel, daughter Jennifer - circa 1997.
Digital image. Original held by Cheryl Chaney Beaver, [ADDRESS
WITHHELD FOR PRIVACY], Lone Grove, OK, 2011.

She died on 5 June 1999 in Bakersfield, Kern County, California, after a brief bout with pancreatic cancer. It was her wish that her body be donated for medical research. She is memorialized on the gravestone at my dad's grave in Lone Grove Cemetery, Lone Grove, Carter County, Oklahoma.

Last year I wrote the post Remembering Mama. I wish that my grandchildren had had the opportunity to know their great-grandmother personally, but they have grown to know her through our sharing our memories of this special woman.


© 2011 Denise Spurlock