Sr. Rachel Beeson

Sister Rachel Beeson, CHM, 92, died October 22, 2024, at Bishop Drumm Care Center in Johnston, Iowa. Services will be on Thursday, October 24, Bishop Drumm Our Lady of Peace Chapel: Visitation 2 – 3:30 pm and Memorial Service, 3:30 pm; On Friday, October 25, Humility of Mary Center, Davenport, Iowa, Rosary and Visitation, 4 pm and Vigil Service, 7 pm; Saturday, October 26, Mass of Christian Burial at the Humility of Mary Center, 11 am, followed by interment at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Davenport.

Marietta Marie Beeson was born February 7, 1932, in Des Moines, Iowa, to Earl and Johanna (Olmstead) Beeson. She entered the Congregation of the Humility of Mary (CHM) in 1950 and professed vows in 1953 as Sister Mary Rachel. 

Sister earned her teaching certificate from Ottumwa Heights College in Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1953, and then took classes on Saturdays for ten years to earn her BA in Education from Marycrest College, Davenport, Iowa. Starting in 1967, she worked toward her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education through Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, completing the program in 1972. Later, in 1983-1984, she earned a Certification of Ministry through the St. Louis University Corporate Ministry Program in St. Louis, Missouri.

Sr. Rachel served as a teacher and principal in Catholic and public schools for 38 years, beginning in 1953 in Cosgrove, Iowa. In the state of Iowa, she served at St. Joseph (Dunlap), as a founding teacher at St. Mary (Oskaloosa), St. Anthony (Des Moines), St. Mary (Centerville), St. Vincent (Davenport), St. Mary (Albia), St. Pius X (Des Moines), and St. Albert (Council Bluffs). She also served in St. Austin, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and St. Denis in Benton, Missouri. In 1981, she stepped away from formal education to help move the CHM community from Ottumwa to Davenport, serving as Plant Coordinator for the Ottumwa Heights motherhouse and Coordinator of Retired Sisters at Marycrest College, where the sisters lived until the new Humility of Mary Center was complete. Although busy, since she missed working with children, during this time she also taught religious education at St. Mary in Ottumwa. During her year (1983-1984) at St. Louis University, she also served as a counselor for the New Life Style Program, and then returned to education. From 1984-1987, she served as principal for North Catholic in Clinton, Iowa, overseeing the merging of multiple buildings into one large new school, and then served as principal of Hayes Catholic Elementary in Muscatine, Iowa. At Hayes, she took part in adding a preschool program and many renovations, staying until 1994 when she decided to “sort of retire.”

During retirement, Sister served as the Religious Education Coordinator for St. Anthony Church in Knoxville, Iowa from 1994-2002, was part of the CHM Seeds of Hope team from 2003-2011, an Extension Program Assistant for the CHMs from 2005-2008, and a Minister of Prayer and Witness at the Humility of Mary Center starting in 2011.

She was appointed to the Holy Childhood Association Committee for the Diocese of Davenport in 1987. In 2001, Sister was elected to the leadership team of the Sisters Consortium of the Diocese of Davenport and in 2003, she was elected to the Sisters Council for the Iowa Catholic Conference.

Sr. Rachel was an avid jigsaw puzzle worker and helped to make the community room a place of gathering and sharing stories. When she moved to Bishop Drumm Retirement Center, she continued this hobby, often joined by her brother, Msgr. Lawrence Beeson.

Sr. Rachel is preceded in death by her parents, brothers Everett and Robert, and infant sister Harriett Beeson. She is survived by brothers, Justin and Msgr. Lawrence Beeson, and sister, Rachel Norton, numerous nieces and nephews and her CHM community.

Memorials may be made to the Congregation of the Humility of Mary.