Incredibly loving and generous, kind and compassionate, always putting others first. Feisty and quick-witted, possessing quite the sense of humor-Bernice Evelyn Edwards "Bee"-you will be missed. At 101 years of age, Bee passed away peaceably and surrounded by family on Thursday, December 11, 2014. She was born to Herman and Edith Eastlund in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on May 22, 1913, while her family was on a short visit.
She grew up in San Gabriel Valley where she eventually met and married her husband, Jim, of 65 years in 1932. As founders of the Edwards Theatres chain, Bee and Jim experienced a long career paralleling Southern California's burgeoning love affair with "the talkies." They opened their first theatre in Jim's hometown of Monterey Park during the height of the Great Depression. In moving to Newport Beach in the 1950s, their plan was to retire at the beautiful coast. Instead, they built their first theatre in Costa Mesa in the 1960s, calling it the "Cinema." Fashion Island was their next project, and over the next 40 years the business grew to more than 100 locations in California, Texas, and Idaho. It should be noted that Bee was in charge of the décor and interior design of each and every theatre.
Bee always had a great love for the Hawaiian Islands and enjoyed a lifelong passion for dancing the hula. Ask anyone and they would tell you that she was better than the best. Along with her dancing, Bee pursued the arts well into her 90s through her playing of the piano and organ and the taking of art classes at Orange Coast College. She was an accomplished painter of china and an artist in oils, as well as watercolor.
On the occasion of her 100th birthday party, she received a proclamation from the mayor of Newport Beach highlighting her civic contributions (along with her late husband) to the city. They had helped to ensure Newport Beach would have an abundance of water for future generations through the community development of Big Canyon Reservoir. She was a proponent of safe boating and enjoyed the benefits and resources of Newport Harbor and nearby Catalina Island with her family.
She is survived by three children, Joan Edwards Randolph, Carole Ann Ruoff, and Jim Edwards III, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, nine grandchildren, five spouses of grandchildren, and twelve great grandchildren. The family thanks you for your prayers of support, there is comfort and strength in them. We have the knowledge through God's grace that our beloved Bee is peacefully at home with the Lord, without pain, and full of joy.
Info found here...
She grew up in San Gabriel Valley where she eventually met and married her husband, Jim, of 65 years in 1932. As founders of the Edwards Theatres chain, Bee and Jim experienced a long career paralleling Southern California's burgeoning love affair with "the talkies." They opened their first theatre in Jim's hometown of Monterey Park during the height of the Great Depression. In moving to Newport Beach in the 1950s, their plan was to retire at the beautiful coast. Instead, they built their first theatre in Costa Mesa in the 1960s, calling it the "Cinema." Fashion Island was their next project, and over the next 40 years the business grew to more than 100 locations in California, Texas, and Idaho. It should be noted that Bee was in charge of the décor and interior design of each and every theatre.
Bee always had a great love for the Hawaiian Islands and enjoyed a lifelong passion for dancing the hula. Ask anyone and they would tell you that she was better than the best. Along with her dancing, Bee pursued the arts well into her 90s through her playing of the piano and organ and the taking of art classes at Orange Coast College. She was an accomplished painter of china and an artist in oils, as well as watercolor.
On the occasion of her 100th birthday party, she received a proclamation from the mayor of Newport Beach highlighting her civic contributions (along with her late husband) to the city. They had helped to ensure Newport Beach would have an abundance of water for future generations through the community development of Big Canyon Reservoir. She was a proponent of safe boating and enjoyed the benefits and resources of Newport Harbor and nearby Catalina Island with her family.
She is survived by three children, Joan Edwards Randolph, Carole Ann Ruoff, and Jim Edwards III, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, nine grandchildren, five spouses of grandchildren, and twelve great grandchildren. The family thanks you for your prayers of support, there is comfort and strength in them. We have the knowledge through God's grace that our beloved Bee is peacefully at home with the Lord, without pain, and full of joy.
Info found here...
Incredibly loving and generous, kind and compassionate, always putting others first. Feisty and quick-witted, possessing quite the sense of humor-Bernice Evelyn Edwards "Bee"-you will be missed. At 101 years of age, Bee passed away peaceably and surrounded by family on Thursday, December 11, 2014. She was born to Herman and Edith Eastlund in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on May 22, 1913, while her family was on a short visit.
She grew up in San Gabriel Valley where she eventually met and married her husband, Jim, of 65 years in 1932. As founders of the Edwards Theatres chain, Bee and Jim experienced a long career paralleling Southern California's burgeoning love affair with "the talkies." They opened their first theatre in Jim's hometown of Monterey Park during the height of the Great Depression. In moving to Newport Beach in the 1950s, their plan was to retire at the beautiful coast. Instead, they built their first theatre in Costa Mesa in the 1960s, calling it the "Cinema." Fashion Island was their next project, and over the next 40 years the business grew to more than 100 locations in California, Texas, and Idaho. It should be noted that Bee was in charge of the décor and interior design of each and every theatre.
Bee always had a great love for the Hawaiian Islands and enjoyed a lifelong passion for dancing the hula. Ask anyone and they would tell you that she was better than the best. Along with her dancing, Bee pursued the arts well into her 90s through her playing of the piano and organ and the taking of art classes at Orange Coast College. She was an accomplished painter of china and an artist in oils, as well as watercolor.
On the occasion of her 100th birthday party, she received a proclamation from the mayor of Newport Beach highlighting her civic contributions (along with her late husband) to the city. They had helped to ensure Newport Beach would have an abundance of water for future generations through the community development of Big Canyon Reservoir. She was a proponent of safe boating and enjoyed the benefits and resources of Newport Harbor and nearby Catalina Island with her family.
She is survived by three children, Joan Edwards Randolph, Carole Ann Ruoff, and Jim Edwards III, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, nine grandchildren, five spouses of grandchildren, and twelve great grandchildren. The family thanks you for your prayers of support, there is comfort and strength in them. We have the knowledge through God's grace that our beloved Bee is peacefully at home with the Lord, without pain, and full of joy.
Info found here...
She grew up in San Gabriel Valley where she eventually met and married her husband, Jim, of 65 years in 1932. As founders of the Edwards Theatres chain, Bee and Jim experienced a long career paralleling Southern California's burgeoning love affair with "the talkies." They opened their first theatre in Jim's hometown of Monterey Park during the height of the Great Depression. In moving to Newport Beach in the 1950s, their plan was to retire at the beautiful coast. Instead, they built their first theatre in Costa Mesa in the 1960s, calling it the "Cinema." Fashion Island was their next project, and over the next 40 years the business grew to more than 100 locations in California, Texas, and Idaho. It should be noted that Bee was in charge of the décor and interior design of each and every theatre.
Bee always had a great love for the Hawaiian Islands and enjoyed a lifelong passion for dancing the hula. Ask anyone and they would tell you that she was better than the best. Along with her dancing, Bee pursued the arts well into her 90s through her playing of the piano and organ and the taking of art classes at Orange Coast College. She was an accomplished painter of china and an artist in oils, as well as watercolor.
On the occasion of her 100th birthday party, she received a proclamation from the mayor of Newport Beach highlighting her civic contributions (along with her late husband) to the city. They had helped to ensure Newport Beach would have an abundance of water for future generations through the community development of Big Canyon Reservoir. She was a proponent of safe boating and enjoyed the benefits and resources of Newport Harbor and nearby Catalina Island with her family.
She is survived by three children, Joan Edwards Randolph, Carole Ann Ruoff, and Jim Edwards III, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, nine grandchildren, five spouses of grandchildren, and twelve great grandchildren. The family thanks you for your prayers of support, there is comfort and strength in them. We have the knowledge through God's grace that our beloved Bee is peacefully at home with the Lord, without pain, and full of joy.
Info found here...
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