Victoria MN Newspaper-Beddors

“Cecil was an Episcopalian,” said Bea, “and he would take Mother and us to Mass and pick us up after Mass. He would join us at Easter, Christmas, and holy days. He agreed before they got married to keep Mother bringing her daughters up as good Catholics.”

Bea’s favorite classes in school? “English was my favorite, and writing. Then Latin became my favorite when I figured it out, that the verb came at the end of the sentence. Then I loved it!” she exclaimed. “I discovered Church Latin was very easy. On the streetcar to school, my sister Mary would listen to my spelling and I’d check her Latin vocabulary. It was a good time to practice our homework on each other. We made good use of our time while riding the streetcar and bus to school and back.”

“I liked all my subjects except speech,” continued Bea. “I didn’t like getting up in front of people. I would get so nervous -- You’d never know that today -- but I went to Toastmasters and took classes later on in life to overcome my fear.”

After high school, Bea attended one year of college out east, in New York, and then joined the Ice Follies. “I had skated all through high school,” she explained. “My friend’s father managed the Minneapolis Ice Arena and all I had to pay for were my lessons. I arranged for my school subjects to take up the morning and then I could skate in the afternoon. I got gym credit with my skating.”

Bea’s first encounter with skating, however, was right outside her front door. “Lake of the Isles was just three blocks from our house,” she said.

Bea came to skate for Roy and Eddie Shipstad and Oscar Johnson in a touring ice show. “The first main show of Shipstad and Johnson Ice Follies was at the Minneapolis Arena,” she stated. “It was the only place around that had artificial ice.” And so Bea’s home base -- and her dating base -- remained Minneapolis. It included a young man she began dating in high school.

***

How did they meet? Bill’s answer is short: “We lived in the same area.” Bea’s answer is not so short.

“My sister was dating Bill’s brother and they set us up on a blind date,” she said. “We were so young. We went out just to have fun. Bill was fun to be with. I liked that those Beddor boys were so nice to their sisters. That family won me over very easily.”

“We were only 16,” said Bill. “We dated but it wasn’t like going steady. Bea had the Ice Follies and I had the Service.” After the Service, the young people continued seeing each other.

What did Bill like about Bea? He replied, “She was a fun gal, peppy. She liked to horseback ride. She liked to sail. She liked to dance. We were both fairly independent.”

What did Bea like about Bill? “His family,” she said. “And he was very nice looking. Actually, cute. I loved all of the activities that he was always planning. He was very creative. He always had a lot of family members around. One of his aunts would play the piano and we’d sing. Bill thought our house was like a morgue.”

“Both of us had a pretty neat family life,” Bill says today. Then it was time, as he said, to get his life started.

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