Parkinsons.jpg)
Hadley Lewis Bean
- Published: March 7, 2024
Hadley Lewis Bean passed away on Feb. 22, 2024, in Montgomery, Alabama, from complications from PSP, a rare degenerative neurological disease. Born to Xarifa Sallume and Morris Bean on March 19, 1944, in Springfield, Ohio, he grew up on a farm outside of Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he lived with his mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, two aunts and four siblings.
A graduate of Yellow Springs High School in 1962, Hadley went on to study math and physics at Antioch College, where he graduated with a BS in 1968. Hadley began his career teaching science in the Dayton, Ohio, public schools and then moved on to a career in computer science working for the United States Air Force as a Department of Defense civilian at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, in 1970. In 1973, Hadley was transferred to Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, to continue his work for the Air Force as an IT specialist. He worked for the Air Force for 37 years, retiring in 2007.
In 1980, Hadley married Beverly Shaffer, and together, they built a life filled with love and laughter, family and friends, science and music. Hadley was devoted to his nieces and nephews, Ruth Louise and Peter, Sven and Brett, Andrew and Annaliese, Leonard, Kirsten and Erik, Jennifer and Stephanie, Jeanne, Amy and Michael, Hunter and Zuzu. At a family reunion, Hadley once made videos of several of them acting out poems from Shel Silverstein’s “Where The Sidewalk Ends.” He also made an exquisitely detailed train station for a dear nephew for his Thomas the Tank Engine train set, complete with lights and tiny people inside.
Hadley loved helping colleagues, friends and neighbors with projects, especially those requiring sophisticated solutions to complex and difficult problems. He once built a custom treadmill for a colleague at Gunter who had ambulatory issues. Hadley was kind, thoughtful and creative in his efforts to help people in his life.
When not helping others, Hadley could be found in his workshop developing various electronic and electro-mechanical creations drawn from his imagination. One of these creations, the “Bean Machine,” involved a TV screen, an oscilloscope and a sound source (music from a CD), resulting in abstract images bouncing around the TV screen in wonderful shapes and colors. Hadley was also an avid photographer and baker of pies. When a dear friend learned about Hadley’s passing, he said, “The world will be a lot less interesting place without him in it. I’ll miss him.”
Hadley and his wife, Beverly, attended the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery, where they had many friends and enjoyed participating in Sunday morning services, Thursday night pool parties (the kind involving a table, balls and cues), and volunteering with the social action committee. The visits by many UUs during Hadley’s extended illness were greatly appreciated.
Preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Anita, Hadley is survived by his wife, Beverly Shaffer; his brother, Rodney Bean; two sisters, Leslie Kern and Doris Bean; a step-son, Lucas Johnston; three sisters-in-law, Jeannette Sowman, Madolyn Shaffer and Malinda Farrington; many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. His family will feel his absence, as will a wide circle of friends and colleagues and all who knew him; and those who benefitted from his love of helping friends.
A memorial to honor Hadley’s life will be held at a date and time to be announced in the near future. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Hadley’s memory to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery or to the Capri Community Film Society.
One Response to “Hadley Lewis Bean”
The Yellow Springs News encourages respectful discussion of this article.
You must login to post a comment.
Don't have a login? Register for a free YSNews.com account.
So sorry to hear about the passing of fellow Yellow Springs class mate of 1962.
My father was his father’s first employee of Morris Bean Company that made our family connections very frequent and enjoyable. One less bright star to light our lives.