Shirley “Kay” Beam (Kalisher), born September 20, 1927, passed away peacefully in her sleep October 15, 2021. She was most recently a resident at Franciscan Care Center in Sylvania and under the loving care of Kind Hearts Hospice.
Born to Bill and Betty Kalisher and raised in Toledo, Kay met Jim Beam at a roller-skating rink, just 6 months into nursing school. Jim announced he had found the woman he was to marry and marry they did. Kay quit school to follow her dream of having six children close together and was blessed with three far apart. Kay accepted Christ in her twenties, filling what she called a “hole in her heart,” thanks in part to church songs sung by Jim’s sisters. Both Christian and classical music had always been a large part of her life. Kay and Jim helped in the founding of the Holland Free Methodist Church, and later Kay was a member of the McCord Road Christian Church. Kay most recently attended New Creation Community Church.
Kay loved family and family get-togethers, spending hours preparing holiday and birthday meals, while baking delicious desserts. Making a hundred dozen cookies during the holidays (really … her girls helped some years) brought her joy as she gave many away and stashed the rest in the freezer for the family. Kay loved to travel. It started with her honeymoon, a camping trip to Little Brevort lake in the upper peninsula of Michigan, which became a family favorite destination. She also took pride in planning yearly vacations for the family, traveling across the country, graduating from the back of a station wagon, then into tents, and lastly into the pop-up camper. She was an avid reader, always having a library book in her possession. Her hobbies included needlepoint crafts and knitting.
Kay was the office manager of Toledo Screw Products for twenty plus years, where “we mass produce precision parts,” a phrase she proudly came up with to describe the small manufacturing plant. She later wrote and published her own story, “As I Remember It,” and held classes to teach others the principles of writing a biography.
Shirley Beam is preceded in death by her husband James and son Michael; survived by her brother Larry (Ruth); daughters Silky and Cynthia; grandson Jeffrey (Heather); and great-grandson Elliot.
Family and friends may gather at Reeb Funeral Home, Friday January 7, 2022 from 4:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M. and Saturday January 8, 2022 at 10:00 A.M. with memorial service following at 11:00 A.M. Online condolences to reebfuneralhome.com
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