Catherine Ann Bean

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Catherine Ann Bean, formerly on the staff of Roy O. West Library at DePauw University, died of Alzheimer's disease on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013 at Asbury Towers in Greencastle.

Born at Fort G.G. Meade, Md., she was the daughter of Chaplain James Corey Bean and Catherine Bickham Bean. After an adventurous childhood in an Army family that moved from Maryland to Texas to France to California and Illinois, she came to Greencastle as a sixth grader, graduated from Greencastle High School in 1967.

In 1971 she received her Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois Wesleyan University. She taught fourth grade in Huntingburg, Ind., for four years and in 1975 completed the Master of Arts in teaching in DePauw's summer program.

That fall she joined the library staff and served there in various positions until 2002, when she had to resign because of ill health.

As a member of the League of Women Voters, she helped to publish the "This Is Greencastle" booklet. She taught first and second graders in the Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church School for many years.

Friends will remember her lavish backyard cookouts and lovingly hand-made gifts.

Her parents and brother, Chaplain James C. Bean Jr., preceded her in death.

Surviving are her sister and brother-in-law Edith and Glenn Welliver, her nephew Ralph Welliver and his family and several cousins. They are much indebted to the staff at Asbury Towers for their endless patience and kindness.

Memorial gifts may be sent to the Catherine Bean Memorial Worship Fund in the endowment of Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 66, Greencastle, IN 46135.

The memorial service will be scheduled at a later date, after the private burial.

Condolences and expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family at www.BittlesandHurt.com.