Miriam W Beitel

Miriam White Beitel, 87, of Moline died peacefully with family on August 4, 2011. Visitation will be Friday, August 12th, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., at Wendt Funeral Home in Moline. Services will be Saturday, August 13th, at 11:00 a.m., at the funeral home. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery in Moline. Born August 18, 1923, in Buffalo, NY, to Alburn and Nina White, Miriam grew up in Amherst, NY, and graduated in 1945 from Denison University. She taught high school English in Champaign, IL, prior to meeting and marrying Howard Beitel, who had returned to the University of Illinois following WWII. They moved to Moline in 1948, and soon started the construction of their Crestwood Hills home, which they could proudly say, "we built ourselves". The "we" also included fathers, Alburn and Ashley, brother-in-law, Dean, and any of Howard's buddies from the Deere Tech Center who were willing to trade work for Miriam's home cooking. Miriam returned to full-time teaching in 1967 as a Title I Reading Teacher in the Moline Schools. The teaching of reading, and the understanding of learning disabilities, were Miriam's passions, even after her years at Wilson Middle School and McKinley Grade School. As an active member of the First Congregational Church in Moline, Miriam taught Sunday school and helped launch the Red Wagon Day Care Center. She valued her forty-five-year relationship with the Kings Daughters Silver Chalice Circle, and their charitable work. Friends of her three children, Ashley, Patricia, and Susan, still remember her as their Cub Scout Den mother, Brownie leader, and baseball statistician. Her love of traveling (although no longer sleeping in a tent) extended well into her retirement. Despite the fact that she usually had her head buried in a book or a knitting project, on any given day, she could also tell you the Cardinal's starting line-up. Family always came first for Miriam. Until she became housebound in her later years, her Wednesday outings with her sister were can't-miss-events. Miriam loved to keep up with the families of her sisters, Lorraine Ring in Rock Island, and Doris Lewis in Urbana, and her children by marriage, Dave Hawk, Chris King, and Joyce Beitel. And nothing revived her more than a call from her granddaughter, Erin, or a surprise visit from her grandson, Christopher. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the American Red Cross of the Quad Cities, or the First Congregational Church in Moline.

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