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40 Years of AV Living; 100 Years of Wisdom from my Dad, Howard Arthur Beazel

40 Years of AV Living; 100 Years of Wisdom from my Dad, Howard Arthur Beazel


Posted by Vincente Monday, December 15, 2008 - 15:07
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Location: Boron, CA

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This is a tribute to our dad, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday on Monday, Dec. 15th, 2008, as one of the oldest residents in the Antelope Valley/West Mojave region, and a great source of wisdom to young people who knew him and listened to his stories of his long, productive life. Dad passed quietly in his sleep, Saturday morning; right before sunrise, while the family and friends were planning his 100th birthday party, and the AV Health Care Facility in Lancaster...I guess dad had other plans for this weekend - to celebrate with his ancestors instead!
 
I was almost nine years old when we moved to the house in Quartz Hill, where I lived with my two brothers, Victor and Vernon; and my parents, Howard Arthur and Annie Lee Mendenhall Beazel; or dad and mom Beazel, as they were known to the kids in the neighborhood.
 
When we moved there in March of 1969, my dad was working at the General Portland Cement Plant near Gorman; having chosen to leave Frasier Mountain Park community to move to an area with a High School nearby; so we would not have to take the bus to Bakersfield to attend High School...a decision that had great significance for us boys, knowing that my parents also expected us to benefit from a community college in our future.
 
Dad worked long hours at the Cement Plant, starting out in security guard positions, until there was an opening in maintenance, which complimented his background as a machinist, going back to the 1940's.  What none of his boys realized was that dad was raising teenagers while in his mid sixties, and that he had been married for almost twenty years before his first wife died, unable to have children.  So when we played after school, or waited for dad to get home from work, he was always tired and wore out; kind of like being raised by grandparents that watched tv until bed time...
 
I mention this to help young people understand that parents are often tired and worn out after work, and not full of energy to do all the things that kids want to do.  Dad was always most alert at dinner and meal times, which were held at the table, with the TV off!  He told us about work and his past lives, and talked with us about the world and history and politics and faith; mealtime was family time, and we learned that we were part of the adult conversations about the world outside.
 
I went through a period in my pre-teens where I developed cultural interests that I could not relate to my dad; during an intense spiritual quest that left me disillusioned and without  a teacher who could answer my questions about religion, in either the churches or the public schools, where kids are not allowed to discuss religion.  Into this vacuum entered the influence of gangs of neighbor kids who wanted to steal and break things and do drugs; after living a nightmare for two and a half years, I found a way to reconnect to my dad, by sharing the writings of Louis L'Amour, which I had discovered that both dad and I could relate with him, as a historian of western cowboys and indians.  As one who craved adventure in life and living with one who had been in Chicago as a cab driver in the 30's, and had rode the freight trains with migrant workers, and travelled out west in a caravan of gypsies, I found solace in the western novels, and the means to connect with my dad and his place in history.
 
To make a long story short, the move to the AV put us boys in contact with great leaders in scouting organizations, and my brother has become a leader to hundreds of young men and women through scouting and other youth leadership assignments with his church.  Our older brother was given the opportunity to finish college, after dropping out of regular high school, until his senior year...now holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue, even though our parents could not afford to pay for us to go to college, and we got as far as we could go on our own, and have each learned to use our talents to help young people, because of our father's encouragement in anything we did, which was worthy of reporting back to dad and mom.  
 

We will continue to use what our parents taught us; and pass on the pioneering legacy to their grandchildren, and tell their stories at the dinner tables, and the lessons we learned from our parents, who had the courage to plan for our future, by moving to the Antelope Valley, almost 40 years ago.

Vin Beazel, Field Rep 
MojaveGreen Jobs4Vets

www.BioLiberty.net


661-823-1463
IM/Skype: vinbeazel

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