Carolyn R. Beran

Carolyn Ruth Beran was born January 29, 1938 in Port Angeles, Washington, the daughter of Austin and Ellen Grace Brown. When she was three years old she moved with her parents to a farm near Prescott, Iowa, where she grew up and attended a rural school near their home. Carolyn graduated from Lenox High School in 1955, then went on to Iowa State University where she received a bachelors degree in Home Economics in 1959. On June 29, 1958, she was united in marriage to John C. Beran, at the Stringtown Church. To this union were born three children: Mark, Beth and Gail.
In 1969, Carolyn and family moved to the Philippines where she and John served as mission co-workers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from 1969 - 1987 and from 1990 - 1999. In the Philippines, Carolyn taught Home Economics in two church-related schools, and for many years worked in nutrition programs with families in a slum area of Manila and a resettlement community near Manila. She also helped set up a health program in Manobo tribal communities in a mountain area near where she and John lived as well as being involved in many other projects and programs throughout their years there. Following retirement in 1999 Carolyn and John purchased a home in Lenox where they lived up to the time of her passing.
Carolyn loved flowers, cooking, playing the piano and any activities with family and friends. Wherever she lived she became immediately involved in the life and ministry of a local church. Upon moving to Lenox, Carolyn joined the Lenox United Presbyterian Church where she variously served as ruling elder, Sunday school teacher, Christian Education director and president of the Presbyterian Womens Association.
Carolyn was preceded in death by her father, Austin Brown. Left to mourn her passing are her husband, John of Lenox; son Mark and wife Tammy of Colo; daughter Beth Drake and husband Donovan of Durham, North Carolina; daughter Gail Neils and husband Karl of Seattle, Washington; two grandchildren, Michael and McKenzie Drake; her mother, Ellen Grace Brown of rural Prescott; brother Byron Brown and wife Marilyn of rural Prescott; sister Laura Scholl and husband Loren of Branson, Missouri; and a host of friends in the U.S. and the Philippines.
Carolyn departed from this life on Thursday morning, July 6, at the Israel Family Hospice House in Ames, Iowa.