Alpha Mae Beamer

Feb 11, 1920 - Oct 13, 2020

Born in Berkeley, CA to Alpha Heath Rogers and Neil Rogers, she lived in Berkeley until the Great Depression when her family moved to Lindsay CA, a high desert community in Southern California. She and her family lived there until she went to college. She was a national merit scholar and was admitted to UC Berkeley and lived with her grandfather in Berkeley.

Before classes started, she was introduced to a recent Cal graduate by her cousin. Scott Beamer asked Alpha Mae out on a date. She wasn’t enthused, but went. He asked her out several more times, and she gradually came to like Scott much more. When he asked her to marry him, she accepted. She remained at the university for her first year, but then married in October, 1939. The reception was held in her grandfather’s home in Berkeley.

The newlyweds lived in a flat in Berkeley owned by the Scott’s mother. They had their first child, Joan Louise Beamer, in 1940. As WWII flared, Scott enlisted and was made a second lieutenant. In 1942, he was assigned to a base in Philadelphia. Alpha Mae was pregnant and went to join her parents in Lindsay, where she had her second child, Scott Beamer, Jr.

Alpha Mae and her childen were able to settle in Berkeley, with her parents in their old Berkeley home. With full employment due to the war, her parents were able to move back to Berkeley, as her father was certain of getting a job.

When Scott returned from overseas, he and Alpha Mae and the two children settled in Oakland in a home bought by Scott’s father when he was a young parent. Scott and Alpha Mae had Ronald Laurence Beamer, born January 1947, there. They only lived there two years before Scott’s mother died, and all her real estate was sold.

They then moved to Piedmont. It was the first home they had ever owned. Alpha Mae would live in six homes in Piedmont during her 72 years of residence in the town. Alexander Rogers Beamer was born in April, 1950 in while they lived in their first Piedmont home. The youngest child, Deborah Mae Beamer, was born in August 1952. All five are still living and are grandparents. Alpha Mae has eleven grand children by them. She also has twelve great grandchildren.

During this time, Scott and Alpha Mae became very comfortable with the Piedmont community’s social life. They also became active in charitable work and joined the boards of directors to many charities over the years. These included: the local Salvation Army, the Oakland Art Museum women’s board,

White Elephant Sale, and Children’s Hospital. They were also active with the Piedmont Community Church. They both taught Sunday School for a while.

Alpha Mae became active with the Piedmont Unified School District, eventually being elected President of the board. This allowed her to hand her two oldest children their high school diplomas at their graduation ceremonies.

By his own admission, Scott had tried to retire from his electrical engineering company seven times, having about three heart attacks along the way. He and Alpha Mae decided they wanted a final home in Piedmont for their senior years. Scott had an architect he was friendly with, come by at cocktail hour for perhaps a year, to go over the plans and try to incorporate the couple’s ideas into his design. The big problem with this plan was that Piedmont did not have any vacant lots. By a fluke, they found one.

Alpha Mae found she could also return to her traditional Christmas Eve dinner for her large, extended family, with sometimes as many as 60 guests in attendance. Also, with Scott semi retired, Scott and Alpha Mae began to travel internationally, sometimes two trips a year. Most of the time, they went with the same group of friends, all using the same travel agent, who usually came along as the tour guide.

By the late 1980s, Scott’s health began to decline. In March, 1991, Scott passed away. Alpha Mae found she could not bear to live alone in the house she and Scott had planned so carefully, then lived in so comfortably. She quickly found what she described as a “Widow’s Cottage” in a secluded area of Piedmont. It was a two story house on a steep lot with no garden. She lived entirely on the top floor, which was at street level. After a few years, she was convinced to allow care givers to live with her. A group of three sisters became her full time companions.

She lived her last 15 years in this manner. She passed away in this home eight months after her one hundredth birthday.

Because of the Pandemic there will be no public celebration of her passing. One can make donations in her memory to the charity of one’s choice.