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BEECHER, William Ward, noted artist age 85 of Cornwall, CT, died on October 17, 2006.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of A. William Beecher and "Beatrice" DuBlan Beecher, he was the great nephew of noted Brooklyn pastor Henry Ward Beecher and Authoress Harriet Beecher Stowe. A veteran of the 8th Air Force in World War II, he discovered he wanted to be a painter while in the service.
In 1943, while stationed in England, he submitted a work of art to a show of military members who were artists. He won the show and decided that he might be able to make a living painting. When he returned to the States in 1945 he developed a portfolio of drawings of his fellow soldiers and a gallery in New York accepted him on the spot. Completely self-taught he became a lithographer and painter of the trompe l'oiel and magic realism schools. His work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor, at New York Associated American Artists, Kennedy and other galleries and also at group and one-man shows at the Hartford Athenaeum, Berkeley Pittsfield Museum and the Litchfield Memorial Library.
His work also appeared editorially in Family Circle, Flair, House Beautiful, The New York Times and Woman's Day. Major oils are in the collections of Nathaniel Benchley, Fleur Cowles, Ralph Ingersoll, Gordon Jackson, John Steinbeck, Mrs. James Thurber and many others. William's late wife, Dolores Laredo Beecher, died in May, 1993 and his daughter Karen at age 17 died in a car crash (Bill never got over these events). He is survived by Christopher Wm Beecher of Chapel Hill, N.C., Dana Ward Beecher of Bayside, N.Y., Robert Jonathan Beecher of Glen Ridge, N.J. and five grandchildren.
A memorial celebration is being planned for late November.
Acknowledgement
Bill died peacefully at 5:15 am Tuesday, October 17th, at Sharon Hospital. On the Friday before, Geer contacted Dana to say Bill had contracted pneumonia and refused to go to the hospital. Not surprising, if you know Bill. He was admitted to Sharon Hospital Saturday morning and was immediately given intravenous antibiotics. He was semi-conscious and very weak, not responding, Dana was there all day until he picked Louise from the train station that evening.
On Sunday they returned to the hospital to find Bill much better, sitting up, weak but responsive. The three of them spent a very pleasant afternoon; Bill was warm and loving, very calm and relaxed. They left feeling he would recover from this set back and they would see him later in the week back at Geer.
Dana was happy to learn Bill's good friend Lynn Fowler was visiting him on Monday, reporting the same progress.
Dana received a call at 6:10 am, Tuesday, saying Bill had passed peacefully in his sleep at approximately 5:15 am.
There is a Memorial Celebration of The Life of William Ward Beecher being planned for Saturday November 25, 2006, Cornwall CT, 1 pm.
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