On this Veterans Day we honor all who have served our country. We hope you enjoy reading this script for our October 20, 2019, cemetery walk in which we honored teachers. This script, read by Dale Simpson, was told from the view point of veteran Fred R. Bevier, and honored his father, Herman, who worked in the Warrenville school district for many years.

Bevier headstone, Warrenville Cemetery, photo credit Dale Simpson

“My real name is Dale Fredrick Simpson Jr. I have been an educator at the COD, teaching archaeology and anthropology for 10 years. It is honor to remember the ancestors who were educators, or those who supported the education of Warrenville’s youth over the years. If you are an educator, I congratulate you.

“Tonight, I will be playing Frederick Richard Bevier.
I was born on September 13, 1922, in Chicago. I was the oldest of five children in the Bevier family (RICHARD, HERMAN, LOIS, NANCY).

“Our father, Herman Bevier was born in 1902 in Berlin, Germany, and immigrated to the United States when he was seven years old. He left Hamburg, Germany and arrived in New York aboard the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria after a nine-day journey across the Atlantic. Herman was a hatter, or someone who makes hats.

“My mother, Greta Susanne, was born in Sweden and immigrated to the United States at the age of eleven. My parents married and settled in Chicago, and both became naturalized citizens in 1929. In 1938 our family moved to Warrenville, which was at that time a small rather rural community among the larger growing suburbs.

“Five years after we moved to Warrenville, I joined the war effort in World War II and was sent to Iran as an MP. I served over two years and returned home to Warrenville three months after the War ended and just one month after my younger brother Richard, who had also served in the army in the war. I married Georgiana ‘Pep’ Wiemer a year and a half after returning from the war and we settled as newlyweds here in town.

“When we first had moved to the suburbs, my father got a job as the custodian at Wheaton High School serving both Wheaton and Warrenville students as Warrenville has never had its own high school, with all our community’s children attending high school in Wheaton. After a few years, my dad landed a job closer to home as the custodian at Holmes School. He was also hired to drive the bus, a role he really took to heart and he became a star

“During the years that dad drove the school bus, the students fondly called it the singing bus, because dad was always singing and always got the kids to sing along as well. So much goes into the education of children and having an enjoyable ride to and from school brought a smile to the faces of many students.

“Dad was always good at making sure the students got a smile during the school day too! He loved to stop by Mrs. Englebach’s classroom and pretend to take an important phone call on her phone…for you youngsters that was the old-time rotary phone, not a smart phone. It was a true comedy routine that would entertain the students, but never push Mrs. Engelbach too far; a nice relief for some laughs during the school day.

“Our family was always very active in the community, and still are for that matter, as I’m sure you all know my sister Nancy Olufs and all the work she does volunteering throughout town! My dad was one of the most regular attendees at square dancing in the community building each Sunday-a tradition he loved.

“My dad retired from the Warrenville schools in 1962, just about the time my sister Nancy started her career as a teacher. My parents retired to Quail Valley, California, where my mother passed away in 1971 and my father in 1974. They were brought back to DuPage County and were buried in Naperville. I passed away in 1986 and was laid to rest here.

“In my work as an anthropologist for almost 20 years, living with cultures throughout the world, I have learned to better respect the ancestors, as they came before us, and have shown us the way. Thank you for respecting the ancestors with me tonight. Good evening.”

Honoring History: Stories from the Cemetery, Fred R. Bevier