C. Arlen Beam

1930 - 2025

The Honorable C. Arlen Beam

January 14, 1930 - October 31, 2025

C. Arlen Beam, a onetime seed corn salesman who completed law school when he was 35 years old and later went on to serve for almost 40 years as a federal judge, first at the District Court level in Nebraska and later as a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, died Oct. 31 in Lincoln. He was 95.

At the time of his death, Judge Beam was living at The Landing, a senior living community in Lincoln. His wife of 74 years, Betty, had passed away in May.

A public memorial service to celebrate the lives of Judge Beam and Betty is planned for noon on Friday, Nov. 21, at Eastridge Presbyterian Church, 1135 Eastridge Drive, in Lincoln. Burial will be private.

President Ronald Reagan originally appointed Judge Beam to the District Court, and he began his judicial service in January 1982 at the federal courthouse in Omaha. Reagan then elevated Judge Beam to the Eighth Circuit appeals court in 1987, at which point the Beams relocated back to Lincoln.

In 2001, Judge Beam assumed senior status with the Eighth Circuit, which is roughly akin to semi-retirement, although for almost two additional decades he continued to participate in the three-judge panels that do much of the work of the federal appeals courts. He changed to inactive status in 2020.

During his tenure with the federal courts, Judge Beam wrote more than 2,700 opinions on a wide range of legal issues. Prior to taking the federal bench, he had a successful law practice in Lincoln, specializing in trial work and lobbying.

Clarence Arlen Beam was born on January 14, 1930, in Stapleton, NE. For most of his life, he elected to go by his middle name. After finishing high school in Stapleton in 1947, Arlen earned a Regents scholarship to NU, where he completed a dual-degree program in agronomy and agricultural journalism in 1951.

Arlen met his future wife, Betty Lou Fletcher, at a campus event in November 1950. They married in July 1951. Following two years of military service, first in Maryland and then on the Korean Peninsula, the Beams resettled in Lincoln. They eventually had five boys over nine years, starting in 1952. All of their sons survive them.

In 1953, Arlen began law school at NU, but a health problem of Betty's led him to withdraw after a year. He took a job with Steckley Hybrid Corn Co., which was headquartered in Lincoln. For a while, Arlen sold seed corn in Iowa and Illinois before returning to work in Steckley's headquarters until 1963. At that point, he decided that he wanted to finish the law degree that he had started 10 years earlier.

After completing law school in 1965, he joined the Lincoln firm of Chambers, Holland & Dudgeon, quickly earning a partnership. In 1971, he helped merge that firm with another in Lincoln to form Knudsen, Berkheimer, Endacott & Beam. His formal association with Knudsen, Berkheimer ended after he was confirmed as a federal judge.

Prior to his judgeship, Arlen had been active in Republican Party politics in Nebraska. Though his political involvements ended when he took the bench, he remained active with the local and state bar associations, as well as with other legal and civic organizations. He was a lifetime member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and he took on various administrative or policy roles within the federal court system.

For decades, has was an active member of Lincoln Downtown Rotary Club #14. He also was a member of Shriners International and was a master Mason with the North Star Lodge #227 in Nebraska. Judge Beam's religious faith was a central aspect of the life he and Betty established. At the time of his death, he was a member of Eastridge Presbyterian Church.

More information and condolences may be found at Wyuka.com. En lieu of flowers or other gifts, the Beam family encourages donations to the Eastridge Presbyterian Church Food Pantry, 1135 Eastridge Drive, Lincoln, NE 68510.