July 28, 1955 – August 17, 2017
John Beall was born on July 28th 1955, the third in a line of four boys and by far the orneriest of all. He hailed from Napa California, the son of Tyson and Faye Beall. They brought him up as a renaissance man. He could make homemade ice cream, wood fire pizza and of course buttermilk biscuits were his crowning glory. He knew how to fix a car, fix a light, fix a wooden game and just about anything else that might need fixing. He could talk politics, history, current events or really anything with the best of them and out talk just about all of them. He bested a teenage boy on a video game, setting a seemingly insurmountable challenge for his grandson Cino in his final hours. Not only did he survive in a pack of women, he reveled in the achievements of his girls and his love for Jenny, Jessica, Savannah, Charlotte and at the top of the pyramid, his beloved Carol.
At 6’5” John could have been an intimidating man yet he chose to turn that prowess into protectiveness. He encouraged his girls to always do and be better, even when they thought they couldn’t. He treated them as precious, being the most important things in his life, all the while encouraging their indelible spirit; engendering a feeling of possibility. Keep your word and don’t lie, the rest will all come.
John spent his working life helping people. He started as an ambulance driver and paramedic. Then following in his father’s footsteps, he became a telephone man on the special services team. He finished his career at Central Washington Hospital as communications manager keeping the lines open in order to better save lives. H
is crowning achievement occurred just after high school. With the assistance of their dear friend Rhonda Brown, he captured the heart of Carol Polzin. Like a knight in shining armor he then braved many tasks that came with his new found love; repeatedly tying the shoes of the disapproving little sister, maintaining constant good-naturedness in face of the not so certain parents of the teenage girl and wooing said girl to elope with him. Theirs was indeed an epic love spanning coasts, states and four decades. Their love and commitment is a shining example of what a true love story can be.
An avid family man whose memory is wrapped in a shroud of warmth and togetherness. As we continue our adventures, he will be with us on the still glass water of the Columbia where he used to cut arcs of rooster tales on one slalom ski, on the slopes of Mission Ridge, in the kitchen of Sun River refereeing a water fight, rocking out at the Gorge, supporting the Mariners at Safeco Field and BBQing on the deck overlooking his beloved apple orchard. He was larger than life and the relationships that he forged with people will transcend time and space.
When you sit down to remember him and his stories crack a Miller High Life, throw on a Far Side T shirt and crank up the Doobie Brothers. Memorial Donations are suggested to Central Washington Hospice, Red Cross – Houston Relief, The Wounded Warior Project or Best Friends.org.
If you’d like to share your memories with us, please visit John’s Heritage Book of Memories to upload stories and photos.