Obituary of John H. Beamer

NORWOOD—Funeral services for 69 year old Dr. John Harden Beamer, Lakeshore Drive, Norwood, will be Friday at 11 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Canton with Rev. David Blanchard presiding. Burial will be held in the Riverside Cemetery, Norwood. Family and friends may call at the Buck Funeral Home in Norwood on Thursday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Dr. Beamer died at his home in on January 28, 2013 after a valiant two year battle with brain cancer. He was surrounded by his loved ones and Hospice. Dr. Beamer was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on October 28, 1943 to Clayton Mitchell Beamer and Rosemary Behrend Beamer. After living in Maplewood New Jersey, the family moved to Toronto, Canada, where John graduated from high school. He attended California Polytechnic Institute (Cal Tech) and received his BS in Chemical Engineering in 1964. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1970 and worked at Urban Technology in Boston following his graduation until he accepted a faculty position at Clarkson College of Technology. In 1972, he was accepted into the PhD-MD program at the University of Miami, and received his MD in1974. He did his residence in psychiatry at Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse and then became the Clinical Director of the St. Lawrence County Mental Health Clinic in 1977. Then becoming a diplomat for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Psychiatry. He retired from that position in 2005. He received the National Alliance of Mentally Ill Award for Exemplary Service in 1993 and 2007. NAMI's Exemplary Psychiatrist Awards are given to the doctors who have “gone the extra mile” with people with mental illnesses and their families. In addition to his work at the Mental Health Clinic, Dr. Beamer was consulting psychiatrist at Clarkson College in the 1980s and at SUNY Potsdam from 1983-2007. He served as Clinical Director of the St. Regis Mohawk Mental Health Clinic in the 1990s and then in 1995, joined the staff of the Expanded Children’s Services, at Potsdam Middle School. After his retirement for the County in 2005, he joined the Expanded Children’s program at Jeff Lewis, based at Indian River Middle School. He then joined the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center team at the Gouverneur Mental Health Clinic. In his spare time, Dr. Beamer enjoyed boating, waterskiing, windsurfing, sailing, hiking, snowmobiling, glasswork, and building. He travelled frequently, and enjoyed time spent with his family and he enjoyed college football. Dr. Beamer is survived by his wife, Sue Thomas, and his three children, Matthew and Shanda of Winthrop, Jennifer Elizabeth Beamer of Los Angeles California, and Jennifer Thomas-Sassone of Norwood, five grandchildren, Chelsea LaFave, Matisyn Beamer, Taylor , Christan and Alexandra Wild, one brother, James, of Salem, Virginia, and three sisters, Virginia Weinhold of Columbus, Ohio, Barbara Sparks of Colorado Springs, and Kathryn Beamer of Palm Beach, Florida., and many nephews and nieces. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of St. Lawrence Valley149 River Road, Gouverneur, NY 13642 or Hospice and Palliative Care of St. Lawrence Valley, 6805 US Highway 11, Potsdam, New York 13676. Memories and condolences may be shared online at wwww.buckfuneralhome.com . The Buck Funeral Home in Norwood is serving the family of Dr. John H. Beamer.