Roy L. Beavers (Lebanon)'s Obituary
Roy Lackey Beavers, Jr., son of Roy Lackey Beavers, Sr. and Margarette Loughlin Beavers, was born April 24, 1930, in Joplin, Missouri. He departed this life Saturday, April 21, 2018, in Sunrise Senior Living in Alexandria, Virginia, at the age of eighty-seven years, eleven months, and twenty-seven days.
On September 28, 1964, he was united in marriage to Valerie Evelyn Gurney, and to this union one daughter and one son were born.
He was preceded in death by his parents; and his wife, Valerie, on November 27, 2005.
Roy is survived by a daughter, Leslie A. Beavers, of Alexandria, Virginia; a son, Brendan Beavers, of Lebanon, Missouri; a brother, Willet Beavers, of Venice, Florida; several nieces and nephews; as well as a host of other relatives and friends.
He was born in Joplin, Missouri, and was raised in Arkansas, Texas, Minnesota, and Montana. The family then made their home in Springfield, Missouri for the next few years. In 1940, the family moved in Joplin, Missouri, where Roy graduated from Joplin High School in the Class of 1948. He entered the University of Missouri, in the spring of 1948, and graduated with a B.S. in Business and Public Administration in May of 1952, as an NROTC midshipman. He entered the Navy upon graduation and reported to the USS Osberg. In 1953, he was ordered to the Korean War theater on board the USS Tingey, where he attained the rank of Lieutenant upon completion of that assignment. He was then ordered to the U.S. Armed Forces Special Weapons School where he qualified as a nuclear weapons officer. He served on the USS Essex and the USS Ticonderoga for the next few years. Upon completion of his intelligence training assignment, he served on the USS Saint Paul, based in Japan. After two years on the Saint Paul, he was ordered to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, where he spent three years, and happened to meet and marry Valerie. In late 1964, with the Vietnam War expanding, Roy was ordered as Executive Officer of the Japan-based destroyer, USS George K. Mackenzie. He spent the next two years heavily engaged in Vietnam War assignments. Roy eventually came back to the U.S. and was promoted to Commander USN. He was then ordered to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, OP-92, at the Pentagon. While at the Pentagon, his daughter, Leslie was born, and he attended night classes earning a Masters Degree in International Relations from the University of Maryland in 1970. For the last two years in the service, Roy reported to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency as the Navy’s representative for the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT I) negotiations with the Soviet Union. He completed twenty years of active service and retired for the Navy in August of 1972.
Roy, Valerie and Leslie then returned to Missouri and made their home in Lebanon where Brendan was born. Roy began his civilian life as an insurance agent in Lebanon and then joined the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association as its insurance and retirement plans field representative in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. In 1984, he became the manager of Public Information and Legislative Liaison of the KAMO wholesale power cooperative. During his remaining years in Lebanon, Roy put his work efforts to the study and publication of the health effects of electromagnetic radiation.
Roy will be fondly remembered as a loving family man, a distinguished Naval Officer, and a good friend to many.
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