Former Mill Creek resident Beatrice "Beady" Lancaster died Thursday, June 27, in Grove City, Ohio, after a brief illness. She was 100. Born on Feb. 18, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois, to Robert and Blanche Fegan, Mrs. Lancaster grew up in Kankakee, Illinois, with four brothers, including her twin, Bradford, and two half-brothers. Her father, a federal grain inspector, worked multiple jobs during the Depression, while her mother, a classical pianist, tended to the large family. As her brothers went off to fight in World War II, Mrs. Lancaster became a registered nurse at the Michael Reese School of Nursing in Chicago and served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps Reserve. Shortly after the war, Mrs. Lancaster traveled to Fort Eustis, Virginia, to be maid of honor in her best friend's wedding, where she would meet and fall in love with the best man, Capt. James Lancaster of Seattle, Washington. They soon married and traveled west to Bellevue, where they had four children. During the 1960s, the Boeing Co. transferred the family to New Orleans/Slidell, Louisiana, where Mr. Lancaster worked on the Saturn V rocket program at the Michoud facility for seven years. Mrs. Lancaster's nursing career was her lifelong passion: treating the poorest of the poor in urban Chicago, comforting veterans of war and victims of the Holocaust, and sitting with young AIDS victims whose parents refused to visit them as they died. An avid sports fan, Mrs. Lancaster once stayed, at age 81, to the end of a 19-inning Seattle Mariners game, and she played golf into her 90s. At her 100th birthday party, she was asked for the most significant achievement during her 100 years. Without hesitation, she responded, "The moon landing." "Even more astounding," she said, "they brought them BACK! What an amazing feat for its time." Mrs. Lancaster is survived by her son, Gary, of Delaware, Ohio; daughters Susan (Alan) Vonderhaar of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Joan (William) Crawford of Grove City, Ohio; granddaughter, Kasey (Caleb) Lee of Lake Stevens; and grandson, Zachary Crawford of Everett. Her husband, James, and daughter, Linda, preceded her in death. A graveside service will be in Tucson, Arizona, at a later date.
Memorial donations can be made to the Salvation Army.
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