I am deeply saddened by the departure of my dear beloved brother, Jim. His many achievements have enriched the lives of so many people. His successful business career, service to the business community, service to education at Union High School and service to the community, are all tributes to a truly great man. But perhaps his greatest success was in raising an astonishingly accomplished and loving family along with his wonderful wife, Elizabeth Hoyer Beeman, a beloved master teacher at Union High School for many years. Jim’s sons, my nephews, Jim, Doc and Dan have all gone on to great success in business and in their communities. They and their equally accomplished spouses, Carrie (Jim) and Jennifer (Doc) have raised loving and talented children, Kathryn, Holly, Cooper, Alex, and Annabel of whom we all are proud. Dan has gone on to be a beloved Catholic priest with an adoring parish in Virginia. Our mother, Florence O’Kieffe Beeman, herself a pillar of the Tulsa Community through her many years as a professional social worker at Family and Children’s Service is still strong at 98 years of age. All of Jim’s family–my brother’s wife, children, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, mother, my sister, Adele, her husband Steve Freedman, and my husband, Frank A. Farris, as well as many others from the Beeman and O’Kieffe families–can look back on Jim’s life with enormous pride. We are saddened to have lost our friend, brother, father, grandfather, brother-in-law and father-in-law, but we know the world is a better place for Jim’s life. He will be deeply mourned and remembered.
