Dr. Beverly Newbold Chinas

1924 - 2022

DR. BEVERLY NEWBOLD CHINAS September 1, 1924 - May 24, 2022 Beverly loved adventure and spent a good share of her life seeking and enjoying it. She was fearless in all of her pursuits. She enjoyed challenges of all kinds, and worked hard to reach the many goals she set for herself. She was born on September 1, 1924, to Lewis Francis Newbold and Glennie Athel Shoemaker Newbold on the family farm in Minden, Kearney County, Nebraska. Through the eighth grade, she attended the same one-room school her father attended nearly 50 years earlier. She began sewing her own clothes, and cooking and baking at age nine. Her father was convinced that she should go on to major in Home Economics. Beverly thought otherwise, and after high school graduation was allowed to go to Lincoln, to attend a 6-month business course. She earned her room and board by caring for two little girls. Upon graduation, Beverly secured a job with an insurance company for $60 per month. Then, a wonderful surprise came: based on a test everyone took in senior year and she promptly forgot about, she was offered a civil service job with the Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, Tennessee! Her pay would be $100 per month. She didn't hesitate to pack her bags and hop on the train to Knoxville with another local girl. She was seventeen. When her high school sweetheart returned to Nebraska from military service during World War II, Beverly also came back to Nebraska. In December 1944, she married Maynard Lee Samms. Beverly used her civil service status to land a job at Birmingham Army Hospital in Reseda, California, so the young couple moved there. She was assigned the position of ward secretary to Dr. Bors, a urologist who oversaw the care of a large hospital ward of paraplegic and quadriplegic GIs. She accompanied the doctor on his rounds, taking shorthand notes as he dictated the instructions for each patient's care. It was truly difficult, but she persevered until her duty was complete. The couple moved to Fresno, California in 1948, where Beverly and Maynard had a son named Lewis Lee. A few years later, they divorced. She then married Robert John Litzler, and in July 1953, they had a daughter named Barbara Marie. That marriage also ended in divorce. Beginning in 1959, Beverly was able to realize a life-long dream to attend college. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Fresno State College in 1963, won a first-year scholarship to UCLA, and later earned her Ph. D. in Anthropology in 1968, having conducted her fieldwork in Mexico. She quickly acquired a position in the Anthropology Department at California State University, Chico, California, where she remained for 26 years. Two publications resulted from her fieldwork in San Blas Atempa, Oaxaca: The Isthmus Zapotecs, now considered a classic ethnography, and La Zandunga, an account of her fieldwork experiences.) Both books were in continuous print for more than 40 years. In 1969, Beverly married Carlos Chinas-Ortiz in Mexico City, and they returned to Chico. They were married for 52 years, most of which was spent at their lovely home and yard on Little Chico Creek. For the past three years, they lived at Roseleaf Gardens, where Carlos still resides. Bicycling was Beverly's favorite sport. She always biked to classes during her entire teaching career, even bicycling to graduation ceremonies in her cap and gown. After retiring, she was able to take long trips, riding her bicycle across France, in China, Canada, Alaska, (where a mama bear and two cubs crossed her immediate path and she did not flinch!), and many tours over the United States. For decades, Beverly had a registered National WIldlife Habitat in her backyard where she encouraged birds, bees, and other wildlife. In retirement, she became an avid birder, and traveled widely on birding trips in the U.S. and abroad, to places in Central and South America, India, and Africa. In Africa, of course she rode on an elephant! Beverly was a lifelong contributor to many wildlife and conservation organizations. She also served on environmental committees, such as the Bidwell Park Committee. She served as a Board Member for Chico Natural Foods Co-op. She also volunteered at the Catalyst Women's Shelter. At 97 ("and a half", she would add,) she was still exercising her body and her brain, reading the local newspaper and several monthly magazines, plus completing numerous word search puzzles every day. Beverly died peacefully after only three days in the hospital. She is predeceased by her younger sister Britomarte Athel Madsen, and all ten of her half-siblings. She is survived by her husband Carlos, son Lewis Lee (Samms) Litzler of Sacramento, and daughter Barbara Marie (Litzler) Andrews of Bonney Lake, Washington, four grandsons, three great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. No memorial service is planned at this time.