Beverly Bacon Haughton
February 23, 1929 - November 17, 2018 Resident of Los Gatos
Our beloved wife, mother & mother-in-law, Beverly Mae Bacon Haughton, died on Saturday, November 17. She was 89 years old. We are mourning the passing of the powerful force she was in our lives. And grateful for her long life, well lived.
Her father was a career US Forest Service officer, and she spent her first 18 years in Alturas, in northeastern California. Her mother died young of peritonitis following a burst appendix. Five year-old Beverly witnessed her mother’s agony on the 10 hour car ride from Alturas to the hospital in Alameda where she died. Beverly was determined to be a nurse, possibly fueled by this formative experience.
Beverly began her nursing studies at San Jose State in 1948. That was also the year that Beverly was a substitute for a blind date arranged by a friend. From that fortuitous date began Beverly’s 70 year relationship with the love of her life, Ken Haughton. They were married in June 1950 in Ross, California.
Beverly and Ken both graduated from the University of California in 1952: Beverly from UCSF in nursing, and Ken from Cal Berkeley in engineering.
After time in Washington (state), Iowa, New York, and Moraga, CA, Beverly and Ken settled in Los Gatos, CA, where they raised their three sons: Kelly Lynn (Carol Blanchard), Kevin Mark (Rachel Wood), and Brian Allen (Tracy Stephens). Along with them, Beverly is survived by 8 grandchildren and spouses: Andrea (and Dean) Kladder, Eric Haughton, Diana (and Aaron) Lease, Kate Haughton, Megan Haughton, Alma Haughton, Alex Haughton and Jamie Haughton; and her 2 great-grandchildren, Eve and Thijs Kladder.
The grandkids cherish memories of special weeklong summer adventures, most often involving camping, that Ken and Beverly took them on individually starting when they were each 5 years old.
When Brian was in junior high, Beverly returned to college for an accounting degree. She became an enrolled agent and helped many individual and business clients complete their tax returns, often asking her clients not for payment but for a donation to Live Oak Adult Day Services, a non-profit on whose board she sat.
She was devoted to her Episcopal faith. As a teenager, she sought out confirmation for herself at Cove, an Episcopal summer camp in Eastern Oregon. Beverly and Ken joined St. Edward’s Episcopal Church/San Jose in 1957 when they arrived in the area for Ken’s job at IBM and have been active members ever since. On their travels, Beverly and Ken spent many Sundays in Episcopal church pews all over the world.
In 1977, Beverly and Ken moved to Kentucky for 4 years when Ken was appointed director of IBM’s lab there. Beverly took on new accounting clients.
Beverly and Ken traveled the world, including many trips to England to follow their genealogy avocation, and to China, Russia, Canada, New Zealand, South America.
Beverly could be fierce with her opinions and judgments and intimidated many people! But family and friends were sure of her strong and unending love. She was a mighty Mother, Mother-in-Law & Grandmother whose devotion to her family knew no bounds.
Beverly is also survived by her brother, Warren Bacon, and his wife, Lynne, and a number of nieces and nephews of Lake Oswego, Oregon.
In her last years she became increasingly frail and she softened, reaching out her hand, saying “I love you” when she could not remember the names of family and friends who came to visit.
On a Saturday afternoon, she asked her husband of 68 years to help her into bed. When she laid her head on the pillow, she died.
A celebration of Beverly’s life will be held at 3:00pm on Jan. 5, 2019 at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church at 15040 Union Avenue in San Jose. No flowers please. Personal donations may be made to UCSF School of Nursing, University Development and Alumni Relations, UCSF Box 0248, San Francisco, CA 94143.