Charles James Beers' Obituary
Elmer Wheat Beers and Erma Capitolia Van Valin Beers, along with their first born son Jack, welcomed Charles James Beers upon the occasion of his birth at home near Binghamton, N.Y. on March 26, 1924. Charles was an early reader, and so obviously bright and intelligent that he started school early at the one room schoolhouse that Jack was already attending. He loved reading Rudyard Kipling, "Just So Stories." He was not an athlete, but he became a thespian, and a high school cheerleader. He did well enough in school and liked it. In 1940, just 18 months prior to Pearl Harbor, he graduated at age 16 from Binghamton High School.
Not wanting to stay and work the family farm, which he said had rather rocky soil and held bleak prospects for him, he soon left New York for Seattle, Washington. Hitchhiking across the country, a skinny farm boy, he eventually made the West Coast.
He tried unsuccessfully to convince numerous sea captains shipping across the Pacific to let him join their crew. He eventually ended up in a boarding house in Long Beach, California where he worked as a welder in the shipyards as part of the war effort. As the World War II draft loomed over him he enlisted in the army. He tested well and was selected for pilot training. He was assigned to the First Air Commandos flying supply missions in the China-Burma-India Theater. He flew over the "Hump" (the Himalaya Mountains) 3 times. After the war ended, but still in army service he became the pilot for the Army general of China during the first post war year. He crossed the Pacific when he returned stateside and completed an enlistment as well as a long held dream to travel around the world.
Back in Southern California, in September, 1947, he met a cute brunette young woman, Phyllis Jean Earing, a clerk in the shipyards, whose family had moved from Peoria IL to Long Beach. Six weeks later, friends convinced them not to go to Vegas to get married immediately. Instead just a few weeks after the planned elopement they wed in her parents' church on November 28, 1947. Following a second brief reenlistment in the service that took them throughout the US they lived in UCLA married student housing while he studied Physics on the GI bill. Soon enough, they were the proud parents of David, then Jeanne, then Thomas. They raised their three children together in various locations within Southern California, Charlotte, N.C and Orlando, FL. His career as an aerospace scientist in guidance and control of intercontinental ballistic missiles made an impact on the Nike Zeus (Patriot precursor) and the Athena missile programs. He became a member of the American Rocket Society in 1958. He would say that the line on any form that called for his occupation should be filled out "rocket scientist," or "physicist." When the aerospace technology industry declined, he became a licensed building contractor and repaired FHA 235 housing. He earned an MBA at USF and obtained 2 US patents. He became a test engineer for Miller Trailer Corp. in Bradenton, FL and Eventually, he reentered employment in Aerospace at General Dynamics in California where he retired at age 66. In retirement he founded a VFW post in Mira Loma, California, ran unsuccessfully for state legislator as a Libertarian, searched out table poker, in particular 5 or 7 card stud, in California and Nevada, and flew the General Dynamics flying club airplane. He restored Corvair automobiles. He read voraciously. When he decided, in his mid seventies, to leave beloved Southern California to be closer to family, he found an undeveloped lot near Asheville, N.C., hired a carpenter to help, then, designed and built with his own hands, a 3100 square ft 4 bedroom 3 bath house. Eventually, Charles and Phyllis became snowbirds, enjoying the western North Carolina mountains in the spring, summer and fall, then traveling south to Florida for January and February. In Asheville, they were visited by their children. One granddaughter attended summer camp in a nearby town. When they determined they needed to avoid driving in the mountains altogether, they moved to Bradenton, FL into a brand new independent living community in which they were able to purchase a unit. After successfully surviving heart valve replacement at age 89, Charles and Phyllis moved to Gainesville, FL to assisted living, where he passed peacefully into eternity after 92 years and 7 months.
Charles is survived by Phyllis, his beloved wife of 68 years and their three children, David Charles Beers (Marri) of Winter Springs, (James Beers and Katie Beers Holstege); Jeanne Beers Blumenthal of Valparaiso, IN (Dr. Kenneth W. Blumenthal )( Robert and David Blumenthal); Dr. Thomas Raymond Beers (Dr. Betsy Bryar Beers); (Paula and Alan Beers); and three great grandchildren (Jackson and Annie Blumenthal and Madeline Holstege).
Donations to Haven Hospice, Gainesville, FL are welcome. Burial will be at Florida National Cemetery,Bushnell, FL on Monday, October 31, 2016.
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