2 Timothy 4:7 - “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (NKJV) Nearly lifetime citizen of Quitman and Clarke County, Helen Ann Usher Beeman crossed the “finish line” of her lifelong marathon on the evening of March 30, 2026, at Brookdale Memory Care Center, in Hattiesburg, MS, where she had been a relatively recent resident for care to address chronic illness.
She was born on December 23, 1933, in Meridian, MS, to Samuel Thomas and Mary Lucille Hayes Usher.
A child of the Great Depression and World War II era, Helen Ann grew up in Chunky, Mississippi, and was educated in the Newton County public schools. After completing an introductory general academic program at East Central Community College, she matriculated at the institution now known as the University of Southern Mississippi, where she completed her B.S. degree in Home Economics Education. The following spring of 1954 she married her high school sweetheart Mr. Harvey Beeman, who was a veteran of the USAF.
They initially made their home in Mobile, Alabama, where her career as an educator began, teaching general science at Sidney C. Phillips Junior High School. Upon moving back to east central Mississippi, she took a job at Clarkdale High School, teaching general science for two years. In 1960, Mr. Zack Huggins, then Superintendent of Quitman Consolidated Schools, hired Helen Ann to head up the vocational home economics program at Quitman High School; she remained in that role for 33 years. As a subsidiary and related responsibility, she served as the advisor for the Future Homemakers of America (FHA) club until retirement from public education June 1993. For Helen Ann’s consistently exemplary achievement in teaching, she was designated the “Home Economics National Teacher-of-the-Year” in 1983.
Not long after coming to Quitman, Helen Ann joined the Quitman Woman’s Club (QWC). Notwithstanding her full-time career instructing her students in home economics, she leveraged her membership in the QWC maximally. By 2015, she enjoyed the distinction of 50 years of continuous active membership. In addition to championing the Community Birthday Calendar Drive for 20 years, she held local leadership posts, including the presidency. She also served in leadership positions within the Mississippi Federation of Woman’s Clubs.
With retirement from the school system in 1993, she availed herself to new, plentiful opportunities for local political and civic activism, public service, and community advocacy. Mrs. Beeman became the first female alderperson in Quitman, in office for five four-year terms. In the course of that service, she designed the seal for the City of Quitman. She became a member of the Clarke County Chamber of Commerce and later served sequentially in the capacities of vice president and then president. For her loyal service and devotion to the development and promotion of Clarke County, the Chamber designated her in 1995 to be the “Clarke County Citizen of the Year.”
Between the late 1970s through the first decade of the new millennium, Helen Ann was also meaningfully involved with the local and state Republican Party in both leadership and candidate promotional roles. Subsidiary to these posts, she organized and “stood up” the party primary voting apparatus at every precinct polling site for each local, state, and federal electoral cycle, which included recruiting poll workers.
She was a founding member and long-term board member of Historic Clarke County, Inc. Helen Ann was a driving force behind the renovation, restoration, and preservation of the old GM&O Railroad Depot in Quitman, developing it into meeting space and a small event venue. Subsequently, she directed more of her boundless energy into the mission to develop a local community historical museum, which took the form of fund-raising to acquire, preserve, and restore the McNair-Gavin House. Her editing of the second edition of the comprehensive and exhaustive compendium Historic Clarke County was a daunting task and prodigious undertaking. In a resolution agreed to unanimously in the Mississippi House of Representatives, April 5, 2008, was designated “Helen Ann Beeman Day” in Mississippi, in recognition of her enduring, rich and robust achievement in community activism and civic influence.
Helen Ann is survived by her son, Kenn (Lynne) Beeman, of Starkville, Mississippi; daughters, Leahne (Win) Lightsey, of Petal, Mississippi, and Alicia (Mike) Mason, of Columbus, Georgia; grandchildren, Brett (Jennifer) Beeman of Lawrenceville, Georgia, Lindsay Blaire Beeman of Nashville, Tennessee, Trey (Debbie) Beeman of Cumming, Georgia, Meredith (John) Hibbits of Windermere, Florida, Mary Reagan (Calvin) Roseberry of Greensboro, NC, Brooklee (Charley) Tynes of Petal, MS, Margaret Mason of Birmingham, Alabama, and Birch Mason of Dallas, Texas; great grandchildren, Liam Beeman, Declan Beeman, Kieran Beeman, Gabriella Beeman, Keller Hibbits, Mary Hibbits, Carson Hibbits, Rhett Hibbits, Britain Roseberry, Beeman Tynes, and Carlisle Tynes.
Helen Ann was preceded in death by Mr. Harvey Beeman, her husband of nearly 61 years and by her father Samuel Thomas Usher and her mother Lucille Usher.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Wright’s Funeral Home, Quitman, Mississippi.
Funeral services will follow the visitation, in the funeral home chapel, at 12:00 p.m. with Rev. Terry Ivy officiating and Kenn Beeman offering a eulogy from the family.
Interment will take place in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, Quitman, following the funeral service.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to the Jones College Quitman Woman’s Club’s “Helen Ann Beeman Early Education Scholarship” Fund (Jones College Foundation, 900 Court Street, Ellisville, MS 39437: (Please donate through the Foundation, and designate the “Helen Ann Beeman Early Education Scholarship”); to Historic Clarke County, Inc.; or to a charity of your choice.
Online condolences can be submitted at www.wrightsfuneral.com.
Submitted by Wright’s Funeral Home
