LAURA MAE BEAVER

LAURA MAE (WADE) BEAVER On the morning of November 29, 2018, Laura Mae (Wade) Beaver passed away peacefully with her family by her side in Richland WA. Throughout her long battle with cancer, she was lovingly cared for by her devoted husband of 48 years, Tom, and her beloved daughter, Charisa. Laura was born on September 18, 1946 in Kent, WA, the oldest of four children to Walter and Virginia Wade. She graduated from Kent-Meridian high school in 1964, where she loved playing in both concert and marching bands. Music remained an important part of her life. She continued to play many instruments, but primarily the piano, every Sunday in her church in Benton City, WA for over 40 years. Tom and Laura met in Seattle, WA where they lived in the same apartment complex and discovered they both enjoyed cars and classical music. They were married August 29, 1970 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Seattle. She loved to tell the story of how they spent their first wedding anniversary in the alley replacing the transmission in their 1956 Ford truck. They relocated to Benton City after Tom took a job at FFTF. There she invested her life into her community, being a second mother to all the friends of her children and volunteering and serving others in every way she could. When hurricane Katrina hit, she boarded a plane to spend a week sleeping on an inflatable mattress and helping cleanup there even though she recently had hip replacement surgery. When there was a disaster somewhere in the state that hurt poor communities, she would go and help any way she could. She continued to serve others until her health degraded to the point that she could no longer help physically, but she would still spend hours praying for others and sending them gifts when she could. She was greeted on the other side by the Lord Jesus Christ, her parents, and many family members. She leaves behind her husband Tom, children Charisa (Mark) and Ian (Hillary), grandchildren Aidan, Stellan, and Devan; brothers Vern, Cle (Myrna), and Dell (Rebecca); and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held, Saturday, January 12 at 1:00PM at Bethel Church, 600 Shockley Road, Richland, WA. She requested that any donations in her honor be made to Strong Against Cancer for Pediatric Cancer research. Goodbye, Mom. You will be sorely missed until we meet again.