The “Beatty Family Newsletter” editor, French Lick native, and renowned genealogist Marvin Beatty died Dec. 21 from prostate cancer. He was 82 years old.
The 1940 French Lick High School graduate passed away in a hospice in Nashville, Tenn. He and his wife, the former Billie Blackford of Paoli, moved to Music City in 1991. Mrs. Beatty died in October 2003 six months after the couple celebrated their 60th anniversary.
Mr. Beatty’s youth was shaken by tragedy, poverty, and war. However, these difficulties shaped him into a humble, hard-working, and unassuming man. Like many from the “Greatest Generation,” Mr. Beatty went to work at a tender age to help his widowed mother buy necessities. This early work ethic grew with the youngster, later maturing into success for the man.
Walter Beatty passed away when son Marvin was only 9. The young boy worshipped his father, a gentle and loving person. The family had no car and lived at the top of French Lick’s highest hill. Walter worked nearby, and every evening Marvin sat on the front porch until spotting his dad on the steep stretch home. Then the young Beatty raced down the hill, and father and son climbed hand in hand.
For weeks after his father died, Marvin sat on that front porch every night waiting for his dad. He never recovered from this loss and mourned Walter’s death until his own 73 years later.
This blow forced Marvin’s mother to work as a maid at the French Lick Hotel. He began caddying there when he was 11 to help buy the family’s clothes. Although the
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Note: Marvin Beatty asked us, his children, to send this final edition, even though it is not finished. This is the work he completed prior to his Oct. 18th hospitalization. We included his obituary as a tribute to a man we loved, trusted, admired, and respected.
We had a good run, Dad. ________________________________________________________________________
Beatty Family genealogist succumbs to cancer