Edna Grace Beach, 93

May 28, 2018

Edna Grace (Heiser) Beach, 93, of Brethren Village, Lititz, passed away early Monday, May 28, 2018. She had been under Hospice care for the past few weeks and died peacefully of natural causes.

She was born Sept. 12, 1924, in Shamokin, Pa., to Daniel Leroy and Grace Elizabeth (Schmeltz) Heiser. She was the third of four children. Edna was the wife of the late Robert Kimber Beach Sr. who died June 11, 2010. They were married in Annville, Pa., Aug. 29, 1947, and were able to celebrate 62 years of marriage. Together they raised seven children. An eighth child died at birth.

Edna was a member of the Reformed Episcopal Church and most recently attended Millersville Bible Church, where she and her husband attended while living in Millersville. She lived in Millersville from September 1996 until December 2016 when she moved to Brethren Village.

After graduating from Coal Township High School in 1942, Edna worked for the U.S. Coast Guard in Washington, D.C. When World War II ended, she attended Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., for one year. After they were married, Edna and Bob moved to Philadelphia, Pa. where their first child, a son, was born in 1948. Two daughters and four more sons followed until the last child was born in 1961. As the family grew, they moved from Philadelphia to Glenolden, Pa., then Warminster, Pa., and in 1967 with six of their children they moved to Bangkok, Thailand. Their eldest child was attending college in Indiana, Pa. In June 1969 Edna and her family returned to the U.S. and lived in Alexandria, Va. until 1996, when Edna and Bob moved to Millersville, Pa.

While in Virginia, Edna found time to work as a bank teller, be involved in Christian Women’s Club, attend Belleview Baptist Church and participate in bowling leagues, all while raising her children and then assisting in raising her grandchildren. She was also an avid gardener and had flowering plants throughout her home. During the years in the Alexandria area she accompanied her husband to White House events during the Carter, Reagan and Bush administrations. She met all three presidents and their wives.

Edna was a devoted Christian and mother praying each day for her children. She was a daily reader of Our Daily Bread devotions and participated in Gideon’s International Auxiliary. She and her husband were generous philanthropists to faith-based and civic causes. She also was deeply devoted to her extended family of a brother and two sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc., sending out birthday greetings annually to each one.

She is predeceased by her husband and her parents; two sisters, Helen Herb and Irene Lewis; a brother, Elwood Heiser; and a son, Thomas E. Beach. She is survived by seven children, Robert K. Jr. and wife Debra of Lansdowne, Pa.; John R. Beach and wife Phyllis Stahl of Columbus, Ind.; David W. and wife Kimberly Beach of Gambrills, Md.; Mark E. and wife Naomi Beach of East Petersburg, Pa.; Deborah G. and husband Frank Angilletta, Spotsylvania, Va.; Charles S. and wife Laura Beach, Oakton, Va. and Grace E. and husband Kent Kelly, Warrenton, Va.; fourteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial Services will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Edna’s memory to the Gideon’s International Auxiliary.