A lady to remember

If you were lucky enough to have known Janet Beach, wife of the esteemed Judge Edwin Beach, then you know what this story is all about: loyalty, generosity, community spirit, and fierce love of family. The gracious ranch home of Ed and Janet Beach has always been an “open house”...open to help community causes such as the library endowment, benefit concerts to help out worthy causes like the Boys & Girls Club, or those wonderful “on-the-front-terrace” informal evening musicals by our high school (even junior high school) students to raise funds for band uniforms - things like that - but even more so to encourage the kids to pick up those instruments and share their talents, to expand their horizons, and to say, in effect, thanks to their high school instructors and to their parents for the persistent encouragement that led them to this point in time, where they could actually play an instrument, in ensemble, and create anything from pure classical music to jazz.It is axiomatic that whenever the Edwin Beach family got its teeth into a community benefit, magic happened. I remember seeing Ed on his neat little tractor, mowing the magnificent expanse of lawn on which hundreds of guests listened to great music and sat in quiet appreciation of the serene cliffs that overlooked the expanse of big trees, the beautiful stone walls and steps leading up to the terrace ringing the house. Meanwhile in the house Janet would be planning the food service and writing invitations to literally hundreds of Santa Paulans, while their children pitched in wherever needed, whether or not they still lived at home or were out somewhere on their own by then. The family was - and is - an enviable unit of caring people who carry on the examples set by their parents over many years of friendliness and community service.So it is with deep affection and profound sadness that we say goodbye to Janet, to her warmth and openness, her inspiration and the heritage she left behind for the rest of us to strive for.