Cleo Carroll Beeson was born 1 February 1926 in Lampasas, Texas, to Charles J. Carroll and Maude Hicks Carroll. She grew up on her father's farm near Nix and graduated from Lampasas High School in 1942. After high school she attended business school and worked for a time at Fort Hood and then at Colonial Ice Cream Company in Lampasas until her marriage on 12 April 1952 to John P. Beeson. A few months after the wedding she went with him to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, returning to Lampasas for the duration of his tour of duty in Korea. Thereafter she led the life of the wife of an Army officer, from Florida to Alaska and from Colorado to Germany, with a few stops in between. She always stayed busy, for twenty years as a Red Cross volunteer, as an officer of Officers Wives Clubs, as a member of gardening and bridge clubs and the Armed Forces Officers Wives Club, etc., saying she did not intend to rust out. After John's retirement from the Army and their move to Austin in 1967, they joined Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, where she became a pillar of the Episcopal Church Women, serving in several positions, including president of the local chapter and of its chapter of Daughters of the King, as well as on the diocesan EWC board and its welfare committee. She also served ably with the Texas Society of Professional Engineers Auxiliary, on committees and as president. For about twenty years she chaired the Leah Moncure Scholarship Committee and was the principal contact with the Engineering School of the University of Texas. She surrendered this position a few months ago when she felt unable physically to continue. She died 17 August 2003, after having spent most of her time for the preceding two months in Seton Hospital, including open heart surgery and the resulting complications. She is survived by her husband, stepdaughters Becky Glaser and Mary Beeson of California, son David Beeson of Austin, and daughter Susan Clegg of College Station, as well as grandchildren Lena and Samuel Spilman, Carrie and John Beeson, Jessie and Anabelle Bouck, and Sean and Amanda Clegg.

Funeral services at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd. Graveside services at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a memorial donation in her memory to Good Shepherd Episcopal Church. Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, Texas.