Glenn Hugh Beavers

Glenn Hugh Beavers was born October 31, 1944 to Clarence and Nell Shelton Beavers. He passed away on July 24, 2025 at Bethany Life in Story City at the age of 80.

Glenn was born in Los Angeles, California, while his father was serving with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific. The family moved to various military bases but had a home base in Ames, Iowa. Glenn attended Crawford Elementary and Welch Junior High in Ames before graduating from Newton High School in 1963. He attended Iowa State University and received a B.S. in Economics in 1981.

Although he found economics interesting, Glenn was a computer programmer. Through membership in Boy Scouts he was introduced to computers at the Maytag Company in Newton. Later the military provided him experience in electronics and computer work. In the early 1970s he began work with a multi-disciplinary team that became the Land Use Analysis Lab (LUAL). He worked for more than 33 years for Iowa State University programming and managing LUAL eventually within the Agronomy Department. His expertise was computer mapping and one of LUAL's larger projects was digitizing soil survey maps for Iowa's 99 counties. He also had the opportunity to spend six weeks in Australia, touring and giving a number of presentations on Geographic Information Systems (GIS). After retirement he worked parttime for the Iowa Department of Transportation 511 program, the ISU Microbiology Department and for CyRide.

Glenn loved to tell stories, stories about riding the first day of the first RAGBRAI in 1973 followed by riding the entire route in 1974 and 1975. He told Navy stories both about his father's career and of his own U.S. Navy service for 4 years, 1965-1969. His stories covered model railroading, geology, Wizard of Oz books, seven trips to the Canadian Rockies to hike in Banff and Jasper National Parks, plus many camping and train trips. His interests were varied as he played piano, enjoyed singing, reading any print material in sight and celebrating everything Christmas. He enjoyed playing cribbage, playing tennis, watching basketball and above all, supporting his kids in their interests. Glenn helped Elizabeth and Katherine train dairy cows to show at the Story County 4-H Fair, attended the girls' tennis matches, Jon's soccer and ultimate frisbee games as well as all three kids' performances in the Ames High Marching and Concert Bands.

On October 22, 1977 he married Evelyn Jones in Iowa City. As his family grew Glenn served as a volunteer with Ames Public Schools and as a Boy Scout Leader. He was a member of Collegiate United Methodist Church. In retirement he enjoyed OLLI lifelong learning classes and activities. His travels included all 50 states, Canada, Great Britain and Australia with many return visits to family in Alaska.

In addition to his wife he is survived by his children, Elizabeth Beavers (Alex Lindeman), Healy, Alaska; Katherine Beavers (Devin Walker), Ames, Iowa; and Jonathan (Tina) Beavers, Montezuma, New Mexico; and his grandchildren Arlo Walker and Zora Beavers. He is also survived by his sister Carol Beavers, Ames, IA; and in-laws Doris (Chris) Rembold, Louisburg, KS; Arlene Junck, Stoughton, WI; Dwight (Peg) Gildemeister, Williamsburg, IA; and Shirley (Charles) Coulson, Anchorage, AK; as well as nieces, nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents.

A visitation will be held from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, August 7, 2025, at Collegiate United Methodist Church in Ames. His funeral service followed by a luncheon will be 11:30 a.m. Friday, August 8, 2025, also at the church. The graveside service will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, August 9, 2025, at Pilot Grove Cemetery near Williamsburg.

The funeral service will be livestreamed on the Collegiate United Methodist Church website, https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=_7qeT4qoMcM.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions may be given to Iowa Public Television, PO Box 6400, Johnston, IA 50131; or Collegiate United Methodist Church, 2622 Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50014.

Rasmusson-Ryan Funeral Home in Nevada has been entrusted with the care of Glenn and his arrangements. Condolences may be shared online with the family at www.rasmussonfh.com