Carol Elizabeth Bean

Carol Elizabeth Bean reunited with Paul Raymond Bean in the heavenly choir on March 21, 2018, following a brief illness. The love of her life, Paul swept her off her feet as a dashing U.S. Navy Ensign while they both attended college, and they married January 23, 1945. They were inseparable for the next 61 years and, no doubt, are canoodling once again together in heaven.

Born April 8, 1923, to William Brand Seay and Goldie Ellen Custer in St. Joseph, Missouri, Carol turned heads as a child with her rich, chestnut red hair. To the amazement of friends and family, she retained her deep, natural red color well into her nineties.

Carol demonstrated a love for music and art early on, and studied on scholarship at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, while a junior college student. Blessed with a beautiful soprano voice, she went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from Park College (now Park University), St Joseph, Missouri, and taught high school vocal music in Bourbon, Missouri, after graduation.

Paul made it home from the Pacific front to Independence, Missouri, just before the birth of their first child, Richard Wayne, in 1946. While Carol graduated a semester early, military service interrupted Paul’s education. Like so many of his generation, Paul completed his degree on the GI Bill after being discharged from the Navy, and then went to work as a surveyor for the Rock Island Railroad.

Paul’s job meant the young family relocated frequently on short notice. Carol shifted from the classroom to full-time homemaker and part-time private piano and voice teacher in the home. They welcomed their second child, a daughter, Donna Elaine, into the family in 1949.

The strain of moving so often no longer suited their vision of their family. Paul found employment with Westinghouse Power Systems customer service, and the family relocated to Wichita, Kansas in 1951. In addition to her schedule of private students, Carol served as president of the Mueller Elementary School PTA and President of the United Methodist Women’s group at First United Methodist Church, Wichita, Kansas.

Carol and Paul established a lifelong example of continued learning which extended to family summer vacations. They began tent camping with the children at national parks, and eventually graduated to the comforts of a fifth-wheel travel trailer. Together the four of them crisscrossed the United States, experiencing the vast range and beauty of these national treasurers as well as touring a wide variety of manufacturing plants. As “copilot” Carol juggled the atlas and tourism guides, never missing an opportunity to further educate the children with one more side trip. All along the way, the car was filled with singing, and each day ended with ranger talks and card games by the campfire.

They served as regional coordinators for the International Christian Youth Exchange Program at First Methodist and continued their involvement with ICYE after they transferred to Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1976. With each year’s group of new exchangees, Carol and Paul participated fully in the required reading associated with the program. Their son was an exchange student to Lens, France, and they hosted Britt Solberg from Steinkjer, Norway in their home, embracing her as their own.

In retirement they kept their joy of learning going by attending 2-3 Elderhostels a year along with Paul’s siblings and their spouses. And they donated their time every week to the American Red Cross Tulsa Chapter Blood Services Division. Both were 30-year Red Cross volunteers.

For many years Carol and Paul sang in their church choirs, and Carol was frequently asked to sing solos and provide vocal programs for their Sunday School events. When daughter Donna and her children relocated from Houston to Tulsa in 1992, they were in the stands each week, supporting their grandchildren in the Union High School Renegade Regiment halftime shows and marching competitions. Even at 94 Carol embraced change, relocating first to Boulder in September, 2017, to be closer to family, and subsequently to Longmont, Colorado, in February, 2018.

Throughout her life, Carol dealt with her physical disability on a daily basis with grace and strength. Many of her closest friends did not realize she had been treated as a polio patient as a toddler. Much of her youth was spent in heavy leg braces. The end of the school year signaled yet another surgery and casts for the rest of the summer. She turned those painful experiences into a positive, exhibiting great empathy for others throughout her life. Her deep faith and extensive knowledge of the scriptures guided her interactions with all walks of life.

Carol was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Edward Allen Seay, her beloved husband Paul and her son, Dick. She is survived by her daughter, Donna Mercier of Longmont, CO; grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Daniel and Lisa Mercier of Erie, CO; granddaughter and grandson-in-law Deborah and Robert Finley of Brooklyn, NY; great-grandchildren Kylie and Zachary Mercier also of Erie; Bean sisters-in-law and numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service is set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 23, in Rose Chapel of Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, 1301 S Boston Ave, Tulsa, OK 74119. The family will receive family and friends in the parlor, following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts be given in Carol’s memory to American Red Cross Blood Services, 10151 E 11th St, Tulsa, OK 74128.