Virgil Roy Beasley

Virgil Roy Beasley was born in Wetumpka, Oklahoma on 28 December 1925. His parents were Edward Jackson Beasley, a carpenter, and Rosa Beasley – a riveter in the Second World War. He helped his father build houses and deliver fertilizer in San Diego in the Depression. During the war Virgil Beasley joined the navy and served in the Pacific as a hardhat diver and underwater welder, rising to master chief metalsmith. He rejoined the navy during the Korean War. After serving on Adak Island in Alaska, he returned to San Diego and had a full career as a union sheet metal worker. He held a pilot's license, restored old cars, and travelled many times across North America. A resident of Jamul for more than sixty years, he built his house there and raised two boys with his wife Ima Jean Beasley (née McGough), who predeceased him by fifteen years. He is survived by his brother Jack Beasley and sister Dorothy Potter; his sons Howard Russell Mendenhall, a retired federal agent, and Edward James Beasley, a history professor, two grandsons, and their families. Virgil Beasley died on 29 January 2016, in San Diego . A funeral service with Military Honors will be held on Friday February 12, 2016 at 2:30pm. Interment at Fort Rosecrans will follow the service.