Orthopedic surgeon, former Pitt football player, family man
An orthopedic surgeon who volunteered his time to coach youth football and lacrosse, John “Jock” Beachler had a special way with people young and old, as a sympathetic soul who never lost his sporting spirit.
It was perhaps not surprising for a man with 10 siblings, a man who always dreamed of becoming a physician.
“His uncle was a physician and he treated Jock when he was a young boy and broke his wrist falling off a horse at camp,” said Joyce Beachler, his wife of 45 years. “Ever since then, that’s what he wanted to do.”
Dr. Beachler, of Peters, died March 18, just a day after his 76th birthday, and almost a year after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
He grew up in Mt. Lebanon and was a standout varsity football and basketball player at Mt. Lebanon High School, where he graduated in 1961.
He accepted a football scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where he played offensive center during his undergrad years, including on the 1963 Panthers team that was ranked third in the nation.
Though he loved the game, he never aspired to play professional football, Mrs. Beachler said, and remained determined to become a doctor.
After graduation in 1965, Dr. Beachler went on to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he was elected president of his medical school class in his junior and senior years.
He earned his medical degree in 1970 and headed to the University of Wisconsin — Madison for an internship.
It was there that Dr. Beachler met the love of his life.
“I was teaching nursing at the time at the University of Wisconsin — Madison, and I met him there while I had students on the floor that he was working with at that time,” said his wife, who was then Joyce Peterson.
She wasn’t sure about him at first.
“He asked me out and I turned him down,” she said, laughing. “But he was persistent.” After he finally convinced her to go out, the couple went on a date to a basketball game.
They married in September 1973, and Dr. Beachler enlisted in the U.S. Army two years later.
“He was in a program that allowed delayed entry into the military so that he could finish his residency,” Mrs. Beachler recalled.
The newlyweds moved to Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C., where Dr. Beachler earned the rank of major and worked as an orthopedic surgeon for two years.
By 1978, Dr. Beachler and Dr. Edward Kelly cofounded South Hills Orthopedics, a practice that Dr. Beachler stayed with until his retirement in 2010.
Dr. Beachler spent much of his career at St. Clair Hospital in Mt. Lebanon, where he served as chief of orthopedic surgery from 1992-1995. He also taught orthopedic surgery to medical students at Pitt.
He came out of retirement briefly in 2013 and worked part-time at Advanced Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation before retiring for good in 2015.
Though he loved his work, her husband was absolutely devoted to his five children, Mrs. Beachler said.
“He would go to our sons’ football practices and he eventually ended up coaching,” she said. “He actually coached all of our children in football and lacrosse at Mt. Lebanon, all through grade school. He really loved coaching — it was really a passion of his.”
And he was a softie when it came to his children.
“The kids used to call him the ‘Smushie,’” said Mrs. Beachler, a retired nurse. “I was the disciplinarian.”
The family took annual ski trips to the Rocky Mountains and spent many summers at their cottage on Deep Creek Lake in Maryland.
“It was lots of fun,” Mrs. Beachler said. “We did family ski trips once a year out West. Jock loved to ski so he taught me to ski, then we taught our kids to ski. He’d quiz them on their mathematics and spelling on the ski lift.”
After their retirement, the couple also bought a small condominium on Marco Island, Fla., where Dr. Beachler often spent time fishing with his siblings, as they had when they were children.
“We often traveled with his siblings,” Mrs. Beachler said. “They were very close, and we had wonderful trips together.”
The piece de resistance was a family cruise they took in January with their children, their spouses and grandchildren. “There was 26 of us,” Mrs. Beachler remembered. “It was just a blessing and a gift for him to spend that kind of time with everyone.”
During the last days of his life, Dr. Beachler was in St. Clair Hospital, where he spent the lion’s share of his career.
“It was like his second home,” Mrs. Beachler said of the hospital. “So many former colleagues and friends came in when he was still awake and alert to visit him. Everybody came, from doctors and nurses to the cleaning team and orderlies. I think it was a really precious time for him to have that closure and affirmation for all the years he spent at that hospital.”
Mrs. Beachler said she was thankful for the time she got to spend with her husband and the conversations they had during those final days.
“He gave me the gift of telling me he had no regrets,” she said. “His life was full and rich and he was content.”
Along with his wife, Dr. Beachler is survived by his daughter Dr. Keira Urschel, of Dayton, Ohio; his sons Nathan, of Deep Creek, Md., Lucas, of Canonsburg, Blake, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Cole, of Peters; his brothers Edwin, of Squirrel Hill, Robert, of Sanford, N.C., David, of Mt. Lebanon, Jim, of Holly Springs, N.C., and Michael, of Delaware; his sisters Judy Beachler, of Davis, Calif., Jody Dowdall, of East Aurora, N.Y., Sue McHenry, of Guilford, Conn., Mary Teal, of Holly Springs, N.C., and Janice Wood, of Falls Church, Va.; and 13 grandchildren.
Friends will be received at Beinhauer Funeral Home, 2828 Washington Road, in Peters, on Friday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. A memorial service is planned for Saturday at 1 p.m. with visitation from 12-12:30 p.m., at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, 105 Gateshead Drive, in Peters.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to St. Clair Hospital Foundation, in memory of Dr. John S. Beachler, 1000 Bower Hill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15243, or other charity of your choice.