The Rev. George C. Beacom, 

86, died Aug. 31, 2009, at home in Palmer of natural causes. A 
service will be at 2 p.m. Sept. 12 at St. Bartholomew s Episcopal 
Church in Palmer, with the Rev. Dean Mandrell and the Rev. Ralph 
Wagner officiating. George was born Sept. 17, 1923, in 
Breckenridge, Texas. He graduated from high school in Marysville, 
Calif., in 1941 and came to Nome on the first boat with his 
parents that May, the SS Columbia. When the war began, George 
enlisted in the U.S. Army. They shipped him to the Aleutians, 
where he remained until 1946. After the war, he came back to 
Nome. With his mother, Vi, he opened up a clothing store and 
called it Vi's Apparel. After his parents moved to Sitka, he ran 
the clothing store alone. In 1950, George met his wife Edna. In 
1951 he and Edna moved to Sitka, where both their children were 
born and again he and his mother opened another Vi's Apparel. He 
ran the store until 1966, when he decided he wanted to go into 
Episcopalian ministry. George moved to California where he 
attended the Church of Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley 
for two years. In 1970, he began his priesthood in Sitka until 
1976, when a priest was needed in the Matanuska Valley. George 
and Edna moved to Palmer and he became the priest of St. 
Bartholomew's Episcopal Church. George would also roam around to 
various other communities throughout the week filling in for 
other priests. George retired from St. Bartholomew's in 1988. He 
was active in the community and served as chairman of the Alaska 
Day Committee in Sitka, and was a member of the Lions Club. He 
received Jaycees Man of the Year award in Sitka in 1959 and won 
several beautification awards in Palmer for gardening and an 
Ecological Improvement Award in 1992. George is survived by his 
wife, Edna Beacom; daughter, Valerie Beacom; son, Kurt Beacom, 
all of Palmer; grandchildren, Aaron and Amanda Miyahira of 
Wasilla; great-grandchildren, Kyle, Kalii and Keith Miyahira; 
sister, Eloise Johnston of Macomb, Mich. Arrangements are with 
Kehl's Palmer Mortuary, www.legacyalaska.com. 

Published in adn.com from September 5 to September 6, 2009