[Announce] Death of a friend

[Robert Waldrop]

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Stephen 
Beachboard, a homeless man that I have written 
about previously in my blog and our annual 
appeals.  There will be a memorial service 
tomorrow (Tuesday), at 10 AM, at Resurrection 
Cemetary in Oklahoma City.  Below is a news 
article about his death.

Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord, and may 
perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, 
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Bob Waldrop, Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House

http://newsok.com/article/3049629

Pictures give glimpses of homeless man's life
By Carla Hinton, Religion Editor

No one knows how Stephen Beachboard became 
homeless.

After he died alone March 29 under a downtown 
Oklahoma City bridge, no family members could be 
found. But Sister Barbara Joseph Foley said the 
man everyone knew only as Steve shouldn't be 
buried in a pauper's grave nor should his passing 
go without tribute to someone who became the face 
of homelessness for many people.

Foley put together a pictorial for the memorial 
service that she helped plan for Tuesday.
"I felt that he deserved that human dignity," she 
said.

The pictures provide tiny glimpses of his descent 
into homelessness, but they don't tell much of his 
history, said Foley, a Carmelite nun who 
befriended Beachboard several years ago.

Beachboard had a thatch of dark brown hair and a 
nicely trimmed mustache in his Florida driver's 
license photo taken in 1988.

He had begun to gray a little when a snapshot was 
taken for his Oklahoma driver's license in 1994.

By 2002, perhaps the changes in Beachboard's life 
stretched far beyond the color of his hair. That 
year a fully gray, bushy-haired and bearded 
Beachboard posed again - for a homeless shelter 
identification card.

The pictures don't tell how many people had 
befriended Beachboard and frequently took him his 
beloved hot coffee nor did they give details about 
his quirky personality, Foley said.
The nun said everyday she hears from people who 
have been looking for Beachboard, 54, only to 
learn of his death.

She said Tuesday's service will likely draw those 
who mourn Beachboard's loss - all his friends who 
brought him coffee and food, hats and shirts, hugs 
and hope over the years.
"Steve is probably part of the reason some people 
help the homeless."

At Foley's request, Resurrection Memorial Cemetery 
donated a mausoleum niche for his cremated 
remains.

Beyond the doorway
Foley said Beachboard was the first homeless 
person she befriended when she began delivering 
meals to the down-and-out in downtown Oklahoma 
City with Edmond resident Rick Swyden and his 
Hotdogs for the Homeless program. Her Sunday 
afternoon travels with Swyden spurred Foley to 
open Sister B.J.'s Pantry, a food and clothing 
ministry for the homeless at 816 NW 4.

She said Beachboard had made his "home" in the 
doorway of a commercial building on Sheridan 
Avenue. She and Edmond businessman Chris Engel 
said the man lived there for at least two or three 
years, finally moving to a nearby loading dock 
when someone put a gate across the doorway, 
barring his entry.

Foley and Engel said Beachboard never gave any 
details about his previous life, and they wonder 
what his occupation might have been and what 
happened to bring him to the streets of Oklahoma 
City.

By all accounts, he looked much older than his 
actual age. They said sometimes his eyes were 
vacant and at other times they twinkled, but his 
face never lost the weathered and careworn look of 
someone who had aged before his time. Beachboard 
survived everything from ice storms of recent 
years to the triple-digit heat of Oklahoma 
summers, Foley said.
Foley and Engel said he appeared to have a social 
phobia and would probably be considered mentally 
ill. Once a TV news station videotaped Beachboard 
kicking another transient. Foley and Engel believe 
Beachboard may have felt the man was encroaching 
and attacked out of his impaired mental condition.

Engel said Beachboard was a coffee lover with an 
obsession for lots of Irish cream and French 
vanilla creamer. Beachboard was found with two 
flashlights, two wool scarves and two knit hats. 
The cash he had was donated to Foley's pantry by 
Smith and Kernke Funeral Home and Crematory.

Foley said some of the money will likely be used 
for a memorial plaque in Beachboard's honor and a 
trellis at her food pantry. She predicted this 
memorial, along with memories of her friend, will 
serve as reminders of the purpose behind her 
ministry to the homeless.
"It's really not about the food," she said. "It's 
about the touch, the love, the peace that you can 
give."