Marion Beasley

Marion Catherine (Trink) Goedjen Beasley an intrepid world traveler, gracious hostess, beloved parent and friend, died peacefully at home Feb. 28, 2018. She was 96.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisc., April 17, 1921, Trink attended Beloit College, then graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1943. Upon graduation she worked as a civilian air traffic controller in Chicago and Cincinnati before joining the Red Cross and was stationed in India, Germany, and Italy before returning to Green Bay.

In 1948 Trink married W. B. Rogers Beasley, a doctor from Memphis.

They moved 29 times in their 50 years of marriage as he worked on four continents in health care. They have three children: W.B. Rogers Jr. (Jacqueline Duke) of Lexington, Ky.; Battle Alexander (Amy Harwell) of Nashville, Tenn.; and Gabrielle, of Hyden, Ky.

Trink found interesting and rewarding volunteer opportunities wherever they lived. From teaching high school students in Bolahun, Liberia to starting the first PTA in Leslie County, serving as librarian at Cuttington College, volunteering with the YWCA in New Delhi, and later with Bethany Village the leper colony outside Delhi. She worked with an orphanage in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and fed the homeless in New York City.

She got her MLS in 1972 and worked as the librarian for the photography department of the New York Botanical Gardens and later served as county librarian in Harlan County and then Leslie County, where Hyden was their home.

In 1990 Trink and her husband retired to Sewanee, Tenn., where Dr. Beasley was an alumnus of the University of the South. They were both very active in the Sewanee Music Festival, the Garden Club, and many other community activities. She was an active member of PEO for 70 years, most recently of local chapter Z where she served as president and treasurer.

Trink was an active member of Otey Parish in Sewanee since 1990, involved in the ECW, serving on the vestry, mentoring EFM and volunteering with CAC.

She is preceded in death by her husband; her two brothers, Mark Goedjen and Gene Goedjen; and her parents, Albert J. and Eugenie Goedjen. In addition to her children and two daughters-in-law, survivors include grandson Battle Alexander Beasley and granddaughter Zella Beasley as well as her sister-in-law Florence Goedjen and niece Susan McFarland of Green Bay, Wisc.

Services will be held at All Saints Chapel, Sewanee on March 3 at 10 am with reception to follow in St. Mark’s Parish Hall of Otey Parish

Family requests no flowers, but donations can be made to the Gideons International, P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, Tenn., 37214-0800, or Doctors Without Borders, 40 Rector Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10006. Or to the charity of your choice.