Virginia Beamer Nielsen, age 92, left this world to go Home on June 17, 2020.
Born in Seattle to Trudy Wagner and Rudy Beamer, she was a graduate of Lincoln High School. In 1946, she married Bill Nielsen at Fremont Baptist Church, where they had met. She studied Home Economics at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, and worked as a seamstress while her husband was an optometry student. After he graduated from Pacific University College of Optometry, in Forest Grove, Oregon, they returned to Seattle where he established an optometry practice in the Greenwood neighborhood. They raised four children, Deborah, Rebecca, David, and Mark. She retired from Seattle Public Schools as a paraeducator, where she worked with Special Education students.
Her extensive travels included church mission trips to Central America with her husband. She was a Sunday School teacher, Camp Fire volunteer and active in the Broadview School PTA. In 1969, she and her husband founded the Visual Perceptual Motor Center at the University Baptist Church. For a decade, the nonprofit provided services to students from low income families with learning disabilities.
She often expressed gratitude for the people and blessings in her life. She enjoyed recalling stories of camping adventures with her brother and sister-in-law, Elbie and Jan Beamer, on family canoe and hiking trips.
She was preceded in death by her husband Dr. William C. Nielsen, her brother Elbie Beamer, and her son-in-law Steve Kirk. She left a legacy of kindness for her six grandchildren, Henry, Harvey, Eva, Tom, Suzannah and Chenoa.
Memorial contributions may be made to Camp Burton, 9326 SW Bayview Dr., Vashon Island, WA 98070 www.campburton.org