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Beverly Ruth (Miner) Morse, 93, went home to be with her Lord on November 29, 2020.
Beverly was the fourth daughter of George Elwin Miner and Hazel Mae (Tiffany) Miner, born on September 14, 1927 in Irving, Michigan. Her father was a Railroad Station Master and Telegraph Operator, and her mother was a well known seamstress. The family lived in several Southern Michigan towns. Betsy was their family cow. Beverly always said she was a nasty cow! They moved when she was nine from Dutton, Michigan to Jackson, Michigan. She graduated from Jackson High School in 1945. Sister Lorraine was 15 months older and her best friend for most of her life.
While in high school, Beverly wrote for the Reflector, the high school newspaper. Her favorite class was journalism. The war (WWII) was going on and the journalism students were taught to keep up with current events. She learned a lot about Ernie Pyle, the famous Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent.
Beverly wanted to be a journalist. The day after she graduated, she went to the Jackson Citizen Patriot, the local newspaper, seeking a job. She was hired in the Circulation Department. Beverly noticed this tall, dark haired, handsome guy who worked in the pressroom, Bob Morse. Apparently he noticed her also and asked her for a date. For their first date, they went to a movie at the Michigan Theatre. “Keep Your Powder Dry” was the feature movie. They married in 1948 in Jackson, Michigan. The Korean War started a few years later, but Bob was exempt from service because they already had their first daughter, Terri.
Secretarial skills were also a big part of Beverly’s life. In 1950 she worked as a Secretary to a Certified Public Accountant in a penthouse office in Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1951 Bob and Beverly with Terri moved to California. They traveled across the country with Beverly’s sister Shirley and husband Johnny. As they went through the Rocky Mountains, Beverly was scared and hid on the floor of the car! She had never seen mountains before. Soon she loved mountains and spent time visiting them and loving them! Beverly worked at Warner Brothers Studio for a short time as a secretary for screenwriters Jack Rose and Mel Shavelson, who produced a number of Bob Hope movies. Several years later, her second daughter Valerie was born. She then dedicated her time to raising their four daughters, adding Leslie and Lynette. They often spent their summer vacations at Lake Gregory in the San Bernardino Mountains near Arrowhead, California. Eventually, all of her sisters with their families and her mother moved to the San Fernando Valley. With all the families so close together, birthday parties and Christmas celebrations were a big deal! One crazy thing that Beverly and her sisters liked doing was to get on the floor, behind the couch, stick their legs up in the air and kick them all together! One of their husbands would then take their pictures with an 8mm movie camera. With the Hollywood influence in their lives, it is not surprising. It is still a riot to see these crazy films all these years later.
After moving to Woodland Hills, California, Beverly and Bob started going to First Baptist Church of Canoga Park, California. The Lord worked in their hearts and brought them to Himself. They became very involved in almost every aspect of the church over the years.
Beverly used her secretarial skills almost her whole life. At her churches, First Baptist of Canoga Park, California and Sequim Bible Church, in Sequim, Washington, she often used those skills in her Missionary Circles, Care Groups, Women’s Missionary Fellowship, and Christian Women’s Club of Clallam County. She also helped her husband with writing projects. She had amazing typing skills – at least 100 words per minute! She also worked with Five Day Clubs and Vacation Bible Schools. For many years she addressed cards to members of the church congregation. The pastors would then send them out for birthdays, etc. She also served her churches as a Deaconess, Sunday School Teacher, Pioneer Girls Committee Member and Jr. Youth leader (Jet Cadets).
When Bob retired from the Bendix Corporation in 1980, Bob and Beverly moved to Sequim, Washington. Daughter Leslie Verdick and her family had already moved to Sequim. Eventually they built a home next door to Beverly and enjoyed a close relationship. Daughter Valerie Surgeon and family moved to Sequim a few years later. They lived a couple of miles away. Oldest daughter Terri Ray and family lived in the Seattle area, a few hours away by car. Her youngest daughter Lynette Roberts and family stayed in Southern California and Arizona.
Beverly greatly enjoyed the travel trailer they had. They used it to go on family trips all over California and the West. During times of wild fires in Southern California, the smoke would greatly affect her lungs. Beverly suffered from asthma and they would take the trailer to the beach to escape the smoke. Traveling by car and plane was also part of her life. She came back from one trip to New York to find a couch on the side of the house scorched from a wild fire. Valerie and Leslie with Uncle Dean (Lorraine’s husband) saved the house by putting the fire out with garden hoses. Beverly was concerned about all the family pictures. She requested that they be taken from the house if it was ever threatened by a wild fire and they were!
Beverly loved to collect souvenirs from her travels – near and far. There weren’t too many flat surfaces in her house that were empty! Family members also gave her many knickknacks as signs to her of their love. She enjoyed painting, drawing, sewing and crafts. She made quilts for her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She would grow flowers both inside and outside her house. She was a member of the orchid club and would help anyone to grow the finicky flowers.
While living in Agoura, California Beverly served as a juror for the Malibu and Calabasas courts. For four years, she would go twice a week to court and observe many interesting cases that sometimes involved movie stars. Beverly was also on the election board for over twenty years in Woodland Hills and Agoura (Lake Lindero), California.
Another source of joy in Beverly’s life was her love of animals. She always had a dog or cat or both in her life. She loved receiving cards with pictures of dogs and would say “Ah, how cute” whenever she saw a dog. She moved to the Sherwood Assisted Living facility in 2014, shortly before Bob died. Around the corner from her apartment was a large statue of a dog. She enjoyed petting it when she went out and telling everyone about “Benson”. She also regularly donated to the Humane Society. Several of her daughters and grandchildren would bring their dogs to visit her and she just loved spending time with them.
Beverly enjoyed many foods; especially chocolate. Favorites included See’s candy and Snickers candy bars. She also had several special dishes she made for certain holidays such as scalloped potatoes, squash casserole with mini-marshmallows and cranberry Jell-O salad mold. She enjoyed Marie Calendar’s for dinner and McDonalds for breakfast! One food related incident in the late 1960s had to do with tacos. Beverly would often make tacos, which the family greatly loved. Some of the shells broke and she served the broken taco shells to Bruce, Terri’s boyfriend. To this day, whenever we have tacos, Bruce gets any broken shells and comments on the special treatment he received from Beverly!
Beverly had lifelong friends from Michigan with whom she kept in contact her whole life. Virginia Lutz was often on her mind, and her sister-in-law, Ruth Trevarrow and family, were loved greatly. She often took trips to Jackson, Michigan to visit all of them. Another longtime friend was Eleanor Bugge. They became friends at church in Canoga Park, California. Beverly was always so excited when she received a card with a note inside from her friends and relatives.
Beverly and her daughter, Lynette, traveled across country together by train to visit Terri in Delaware when her third child was due. Joanna came a day early, so they didn’t make it for her birth! While in Delaware, they were able to travel around and see many historical sites before they headed back home to Los Angeles. When Terri’s fourth child was due, she lived in the Seattle area. It was a much shorter trip for Jonathan’s birth at home.
Beverly had always desired to visit Europe. When her granddaughter Joanna and her husband lived in Paris, France, she was able to take a trip to Paris and Germany, with another granddaughter Susanna. She was there in December and thought she was going to freeze to death! She got to the point where she was weary of cathedrals and wondered how many more she was going to see. Beverly enjoyed the Christmas markets in Germany, but she was very cold!
Short trips in Sequim were a pleasure to her. She would often go with one of her daughters to visit Bob’s grave. She enjoyed taking rides in the autumn to see all the beautiful trees as they changed colors. She enjoyed keeping a journal on her trips and taught her daughters to do such.
Beverly was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Robert (Bob) Edward Morse, and all of her sisters and brothers-in-law: Lucille (Frank) Furman, Shirley (Johnny) Judge, and Lorraine (Dean) Henning. She is survived by all of her daughters: Terri (Bruce) Ray, Valerie (John) Surgeon, Leslie (Timothy) Verdick, and Lynette (James) Roberts. She has sixteen grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren. She was known to all the grandkids as Gramama.
Beverly moved into her daughter Valerie’s home in Sequim about two months prior to her death. She loved to sit in the living room and look out the large front window to watch the birds. She also enjoyed watching the neighbors walk by with their dogs. Another front room pleasure was to watch YouTube videos of birds and other animals. And, of course, spending time with Valerie and John was greatly valued.
The Sunday before her death, she watched the televised service from her church online. The closing song was “Blessed Assurance,” one of her favorite hymns. She kept looking at the TV and then back and forth at Valerie while they sang. Beverly prayed until the very end and ended each prayer with “In Jesus’ Name, Amen”.
We will miss you dearly. You are forever in our hearts.
In lieu of flowers, please make remembrances of Beverly to her church, Sequim Bible Church, 847 N. Sequim Avenue, Sequim, Washington 98382 or Olympic Peninsula Humane Society, 1743 Old Olympic Hwy, Port Angeles, Washington 98362.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Beverly Ruth Morse, please visit our floral store.