John Henry Beacher, born in Shenandoah, was raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was a 1939 graduate of Penn State University and received his master's degree in entomology from Ohio State in 1941.
His experience battling malaria in Delaware resulted in his promotion during World War II as 1st Lieutenant in charge of the 174th Malaria Control Unit operating from the air base at Kurmitola, India, with a mission to control mosquitoes in Asia to prevent U.S. troops from contracting malaria. One prevention method resulted in the invention of the aerosol so troops could carry pesticides during battle. Following the war, John became an Aerosol Engineer in that new industry, working for Allied Chemical and then joining Avon to launch their aerosol cosmetic products in the 1950's. He worked at Avon for 30 years, residing in Oradell, New Jersey, then in fall 1984 retired to Niceville, Florida.
As a boy, John loved Boy Scouts, became an Eagle Scout, and then while in college worked on the staff at Camp Trexler, the scout camp for Lehigh County, where he met his future wife, Isabel Bury, at the nearby Girl Scout camp. He loved catching and keeping pet snakes. An article in the Allentown Morning Call on August 28, 1938, expressed this so well: "Six members of the staff at Camp Trexler, Lehigh County Boy Scout resort in the Poconos, partook of a rattlesnake dinner at the close of the season. The "entree" was the meat of a three-foot female rattlesnake caught and dissected by John Beacher, camp naturalist, whose hobby is catching rattlesnakes to extract their venom. The boys reported that their rattlesnake dinner was as delicious as chicken."
John bragged he chose his wife, Isabel, because she was the only girl not afraid of snakes, and was willing to care for his snakes while he went off to college.
John loved music, playing trumpet in the Penn State band and singing bass solos in the church choir throughout his lifetime.
John married Isabel Martha Bury on 29 Nov 1942 in Allentown and they had two sons and one daughter.
His experience battling malaria in Delaware resulted in his promotion during World War II as 1st Lieutenant in charge of the 174th Malaria Control Unit operating from the air base at Kurmitola, India, with a mission to control mosquitoes in Asia to prevent U.S. troops from contracting malaria. One prevention method resulted in the invention of the aerosol so troops could carry pesticides during battle. Following the war, John became an Aerosol Engineer in that new industry, working for Allied Chemical and then joining Avon to launch their aerosol cosmetic products in the 1950's. He worked at Avon for 30 years, residing in Oradell, New Jersey, then in fall 1984 retired to Niceville, Florida.
As a boy, John loved Boy Scouts, became an Eagle Scout, and then while in college worked on the staff at Camp Trexler, the scout camp for Lehigh County, where he met his future wife, Isabel Bury, at the nearby Girl Scout camp. He loved catching and keeping pet snakes. An article in the Allentown Morning Call on August 28, 1938, expressed this so well: "Six members of the staff at Camp Trexler, Lehigh County Boy Scout resort in the Poconos, partook of a rattlesnake dinner at the close of the season. The "entree" was the meat of a three-foot female rattlesnake caught and dissected by John Beacher, camp naturalist, whose hobby is catching rattlesnakes to extract their venom. The boys reported that their rattlesnake dinner was as delicious as chicken."
John bragged he chose his wife, Isabel, because she was the only girl not afraid of snakes, and was willing to care for his snakes while he went off to college.
John loved music, playing trumpet in the Penn State band and singing bass solos in the church choir throughout his lifetime.
John married Isabel Martha Bury on 29 Nov 1942 in Allentown and they had two sons and one daughter.
John Henry Beacher, born in Shenandoah, was raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was a 1939 graduate of Penn State University and received his master's degree in entomology from Ohio State in 1941.
His experience battling malaria in Delaware resulted in his promotion during World War II as 1st Lieutenant in charge of the 174th Malaria Control Unit operating from the air base at Kurmitola, India, with a mission to control mosquitoes in Asia to prevent U.S. troops from contracting malaria. One prevention method resulted in the invention of the aerosol so troops could carry pesticides during battle. Following the war, John became an Aerosol Engineer in that new industry, working for Allied Chemical and then joining Avon to launch their aerosol cosmetic products in the 1950's. He worked at Avon for 30 years, residing in Oradell, New Jersey, then in fall 1984 retired to Niceville, Florida.
As a boy, John loved Boy Scouts, became an Eagle Scout, and then while in college worked on the staff at Camp Trexler, the scout camp for Lehigh County, where he met his future wife, Isabel Bury, at the nearby Girl Scout camp. He loved catching and keeping pet snakes. An article in the Allentown Morning Call on August 28, 1938, expressed this so well: "Six members of the staff at Camp Trexler, Lehigh County Boy Scout resort in the Poconos, partook of a rattlesnake dinner at the close of the season. The "entree" was the meat of a three-foot female rattlesnake caught and dissected by John Beacher, camp naturalist, whose hobby is catching rattlesnakes to extract their venom. The boys reported that their rattlesnake dinner was as delicious as chicken."
John bragged he chose his wife, Isabel, because she was the only girl not afraid of snakes, and was willing to care for his snakes while he went off to college.
John loved music, playing trumpet in the Penn State band and singing bass solos in the church choir throughout his lifetime.
John married Isabel Martha Bury on 29 Nov 1942 in Allentown and they had two sons and one daughter.
His experience battling malaria in Delaware resulted in his promotion during World War II as 1st Lieutenant in charge of the 174th Malaria Control Unit operating from the air base at Kurmitola, India, with a mission to control mosquitoes in Asia to prevent U.S. troops from contracting malaria. One prevention method resulted in the invention of the aerosol so troops could carry pesticides during battle. Following the war, John became an Aerosol Engineer in that new industry, working for Allied Chemical and then joining Avon to launch their aerosol cosmetic products in the 1950's. He worked at Avon for 30 years, residing in Oradell, New Jersey, then in fall 1984 retired to Niceville, Florida.
As a boy, John loved Boy Scouts, became an Eagle Scout, and then while in college worked on the staff at Camp Trexler, the scout camp for Lehigh County, where he met his future wife, Isabel Bury, at the nearby Girl Scout camp. He loved catching and keeping pet snakes. An article in the Allentown Morning Call on August 28, 1938, expressed this so well: "Six members of the staff at Camp Trexler, Lehigh County Boy Scout resort in the Poconos, partook of a rattlesnake dinner at the close of the season. The "entree" was the meat of a three-foot female rattlesnake caught and dissected by John Beacher, camp naturalist, whose hobby is catching rattlesnakes to extract their venom. The boys reported that their rattlesnake dinner was as delicious as chicken."
John bragged he chose his wife, Isabel, because she was the only girl not afraid of snakes, and was willing to care for his snakes while he went off to college.
John loved music, playing trumpet in the Penn State band and singing bass solos in the church choir throughout his lifetime.
John married Isabel Martha Bury on 29 Nov 1942 in Allentown and they had two sons and one daughter.
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