FRANK BEERS III

Frank Traxell Beers III passed away August 15, 2017, about a week after a bad fall. He was 85. Born in Tacoma, Washington, he grew up on Mercer Island, just east of Seattle, in Lake Washington. After four years in the U.S. Navy and halfway through college, he married Patricia Robinson in 1957. Frank earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1959. The couple moved to Livermore, California to raise a family and for Frank’s engineering career in the nuclear weapons industry. Frank had come to love the Cascade Mountains as a kid through the Boy Scouts, so in Livermore he put his community spirit into leading Explorer Post 939 on many backpacking, climbing, skiing and fishing expeditions into the Sierra Nevada’s wilderness areas. He remained in touch with several of those kids until his death. In 1972, Frank and his family moved to Las Vegasworking for Holmes and Narver at the Nevada Test Site. He was Project Manager of the Device Assembly Facility design in 1984 and retired upon its completion in 1995. Frank was passionate about the Colorado River and studied its geologic, natural and human history. He hiked the Grand Canyon, served as President of the Lake Mead Boat Owners Association and was a civilian park patrol volunteer, rescuing disabled boaters under Park Service direction. He and Pat moved to Sun City Summerlin in 1994 and began RV’ing in early 1996. They traveled 100,000 miles in every continental state. In 2006, they decorated their RV with a vinyl wrap advertising their son, Bob’s, run for Nevada Governor and drove it 14,000 miles, all within Nevada. Frank also served a couple terms as an elected Director of Sun City Summerlin Homeowners Association during retirement. He was preceded in death by his wife, Pat; and son Brian. He is survived by a son, Bob, and his wife, Sarah; daughter, Allison; four grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter. Celebration of life will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, November 4, at the Desert Vista Community Center, 10338 Sun City Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89134.