Harold Beaver

Harold Hartman Beaver died October 25, 2018. The Memorial Service will be 11:00 a.m., Monday, October 29, at First Baptist Church, located at 500 Webster Avenue, Waco, with Dr. Matt Snowden officiating. Family visitation will be 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Sunday, October 28, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home, 6101 Bosque Blvd. He was born in Stoutsville, Ohio, on July 24, 1925, to Rev. Reuben, a United Church of Christ minister, and Margaret Beaver. He had two sisters, Gladys Stevenson and Helen Hare, and one brother, Dr. Wayne Beaver. They preceded him in death. Harold served his country in WWII in the Navy on the ship, Rigel. After his three years, he returned to the States and went to Taylor University, Ohio University and Wheaton College. He met his wife, Dorcas Barnard, at Wheaton College, and they were married August 19, 1949. After receiving his PhD from the University of Wisconsin, he began his teaching career as a professor of geology at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Following that, he came to teach at Baylor University, just after the tornado in 1953. Harold joined Exxon for twenty years, taking the family to Bordeaux, France, and Weybridge, England. He then spent a year in Singapore with Exxon Research. The family returned to Waco when Harold was pleased to be asked to become chairman of the Baylor Geology Department. Harold retired in the spring of 1995. He was a deacon at First Baptist Church, Waco and a member of Abner McCall’s Sunday School Class, and also a member of Kiwanis. He is survived his wife, Dorcas; and three daughters, Marcia Robbins and husband, Tom, Jan Frost and husband, Roy, and Susan Wommack and husband, Anthony. Also surviving are six grandchildren, Laura White and husband, Doug, Steve Fleischer-Ihn and wife, Sarah, Paul Wommack and wife, Angela, Beth Beckmann and husband, Todd, Russell Frost and Sarah Frost; and seven great grandchildren, Luke and Ben White, Ty and Clayton Wommack, Wyatt Beckmann, and Elise and Silas Fleischer-Ihn. Memorials may be made to Baylor Geology Department or First Baptist Church, Waco. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com.