Irene Beavers (1926-2017)

BEAVERS, SEAY, ZARTMAN

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 5/17/2021 at 16:53:11

Obituary From Adams Soderstrum Funeral Home, Story County, Iowa.

Irene Beavers, 91, passed away on November 5, 2017 at Green Hills Health Care Center in Ames.

A memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on November 13, 2017 at Collegiate Presbyterian Church 159 N. Sheldon Ave, Ames, IA 50014. Burial will be held at a later date at Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

In lieu of flowers memorials can be made out to Collegiate Presbyterian Church159 N. Sheldon Ave, Ames, IA 50014, or Iowa State University Foundation - College of Family and Consumer Sciences

Irene was born in 1926 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She received her early education in Gallatin and Morristown, Tennessee, later returning to Kentucky and receiving her high school graduation at Hopkinsville High School in Kentucky in 1944.

She attended Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in 1948 with a B.S. degree in Home Economics education.

Her first job was with the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service as a Home Demonstration Agent in Frankfurt, Kentucky. She trained for that position in Russellville, KY, as an Assistant Home Demonstration Agent.

In 1952, Beavers became a master student in home economics education at Iowa State University. Upon Completion of a master’s degree in 1953, she worked one year for the Iowa Cooperative Extension Service. It was the Cooperative Extension Service who awarded her an Extension assistantship.

In July 1955, Beavers was offered a job as a district home economics supervisor in the Iowa Extension Service. She held that position until 1960 when she went to the University of Wisconsin as a Ph.D. student in extension administration. She received her Ph.D. degree in 1962 and returned to Iowa in the same position for one year before joining the Federal Extension Service as a program leader for low income families.

In 1965, Beavers joined the home economics education faculty as an adult education specialist. She gave 23 years to the department before retiring in 1988. She taught adult education methods courses for undergraduates. Later, she taught program planning for adults courses for graduate students, offered in the College of Education.

In October 1965, Beavers was assigned her first international student, from Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand. Thus, began her long association with Thai students and with international students in general.

Beavers was invited in April 1977 to Kasetsart University under the World Bank Development of
Kasetsart University to help the home economics education department there develop a master’s program. This was a three-month assignment, resulting in the development of a plan on paper; several years later, the plan was put into action.

Beavers held other international assignments, in Malaysia and Kenya as an outside evaluator for the home and science departments of universities in the two countries, and in Malaysia for three months editing the proceedings of a regional meeting of extension workers, resulting in a book, “Improving Extension Strategies for Rural Development,” published by the University of Pertanian in Malaysia.

She retired in May 1988 after 33 years with Iowa State. She was a full professor from 1974 until her retirement in 1988 after which she was named to professor emerita status. She has lived at Green Hills Retirement Community for over twenty-five years.

In retirement Beavers has been on the following boards: Green Hills Resident Association, Green Hills Advisory Council, Heartland Senior Citizens Foundation, Collegiate Presbyterian Church Endowment Committee, and Collegiate Presbyterian Church Nominating Committee.
She has been a member of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. for over 72 years. Over 55 of those years she has been active at Collegiate Presbyterian Church in Ames.

Awards have included: Faculty Citation (1980) ISU Alumni Association, ISU Alumni Association for devoted Alumni Service (2000), and Iowa Association of Family and Consumer Service, Hall of Fame Award (2010).

Survivors are six nieces and nephews: David Ross Beavers, Shelbyville, TN; Charles Beavers, Petaluma, CA; Mary Kay Beavers, Lincoln, CA; George Seay, Frankfurt, KY; Bonnie Seay, Madison, TN; Judy Zartman, Brentwood, TN. In addition, 21 great nieces and nephews are survivors.

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