Dr. Nicholas Anthony Beauchamp

1936 - 2019

Dr. Nicholas Anthony Beauchamp

Gladys, VA - Dr. Nicholas Anthony Beauchamp, 82, of Gladys passed away Saturday, January 26, 2019. He was the husband of the late Eva Maria McCarter Beauchamp.

Dr. Beauchamp was born in Nashville, Tenn., February 20, 1936, a son of the late Dr. Robert O. Beauchamp and Ruby Jones Beauchamp. He graduated from the Peabody Demonstration School in Nashville before entering Princeton University, where he earned his BA in Physics before returning to Nashville and earning his PhD in physics from Vanderbilt University. He took continuing education courses at Auburn University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Brookville Community College in environmental and business studies. He was licensed as a Certified Financial Planner, but workloads in his primary occupation as a research scientist kept him from exercising that activity. His research career was mostly concerned with nuclear weapons effects at Sandia Corporation, Kaman Sciences, Stanford Research Institute, and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Dr. Beauchamp had a lifelong love of music. He started piano lessons at the age of five and played viola with the Nashville Youth Orchestra and the Princeton University Orchestra. He also played trombone in high school and had a short stint with a high school jazz band. His Dad taught him to play the guitar and he used that ability to entertain people at Princeton and locally in Gladys and Nashville with a large repertoire of folk songs. He also developed a love for the stage and appeared in dramatic, comedy, and musical productions in Nashville, Princeton, Huntsville (Alabama), Colorado Springs, and Brookneal. He had a pleasing baritone voice which afforded him many opportunities to perform in public in Albuquerque, Morristown (NJ), and the above cities. He even regaled the crew and fellow passengers with Ol' Man River on amateur night during a cruise on the Yangtze River in China.

He and his late wife Eva Maria loved to entertain at their home in Gladys after moving there in 1997 after his retirement. They held Twelfth Night dinner parties, Bastille Day Celebrations, and Christmas parties replete with games, song, food, and camaraderie. They were proud of the home they built with the help of Eva's brother and of the wine Nicholas made from the grapes, blackberries, and pears grown on the property. They also shared a love for travel which took them to China, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Vatican, the Dominican Republic, England, Scotland, and Wales. They particularly enjoyed getting together with five dear and close Italian families over a 40-year period.

He and his wife Eva Maria had no children but showered their five dogs with love as "children with paws" during their lifetimes.

He is survived by a younger brother, Dr. John Beauchamp of Franklin, Tenn.; nine nieces and nephews; and numerous grandnieces and grandnephews. He was preceded in death by two sisters, Ruby Carolyn and Wilhelmina; a brother, Robert O Beauchamp, Jr.; and a nephew, Don Beauchamp.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.

Henderson Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Brookneal, VA is assisting the family.

Condolences may be sent by visiting www.hendersonfuneral.net