Dr. John Clyde Beard

AIKEN - Dr. John C. Beard, Jr., age 89, died peacefully at home with his loving wife, Ursula, at his side on November 23, 2007. Son of the late John C. Beard, Sr. and the late Gladys McKinney Beard, Dr. Beard was born in Greenville, Mississippi in 1918, and was raised in Indianola in the Mississippi Delta. Prior to moving to Aiken, South Carolina in 1966, he practiced thoracic surgery in Memphis and Philadelphia. He served as Senior Physician at the Savannah River Plant from 1966 until his retirement in 1989. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1940, and earned his M.D. degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1944. He was a World War II veteran, serving in the Pacific Theater as a medical officer. Dr. Beard was keenly interested in community affairs and politics and served on several committees of local government. He was a member of the South Carolina Medical Society, the Aiken County Medical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and was an Eagle Scout. He is survived by his wife, Ursula Beard of Aiken, his brother Vernon G. Beard of Indianola, his sister Elizabeth Beard Brock of Kokomo, Indiana, and eight nieces and nephews. Visitation will be held Friday, November 30, 2007, at Shellhouse Funeral Home, 924 Hayne Avenue from 5 until 7 0’clock p.m. Funeral services will be held at St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church in Aiken, on Saturday, December 1st at 1:00 p.m. The family will receive friends in the Stevenson-McClellan Building on the church grounds following internment. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church, 125 Pendleton Street SW, Aiken, SC 29801, or to the charity of one’s choice. Pallbearers will be Dr. Allen Kirchner, Dr. Jim Hagan, Don George, Tom Boggess, Tom Gould, Mayor Fred Cavanaugh, Mack McClearen, Pap Pepper and Dr. Anthony Harris. Honorary pallbearers will be The Aiken Medical Society. Please visit Dr. Beard’s online memorial at http://shellhousefuneralhome.com Shellhouse Funeral Home, Inc., 924 Hayne Ave., Aiken, SC To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Dr. John Clyde Beard, please visit our flower store.