Bea grew up in Portland with her sister, Marjorie, and brother, Frank. She attended Multnomah Grade School and Lincoln High School, and, as a Camp Fire Girl, spent summers with the many friends she made at Camp Namanu on the Sandy River. She worked for Camp Fire for a year following graduation and then attended 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ for two years before transferring to the University of Oregon.
At the U of O, she joined camp friends in the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and met her future husband, Edgar Dick. They wed following Ed’s graduation from the Oregon Law School and moved to The Dalles, where he practiced law. Bea raised four children, was a homeroom mother and Camp Fire leader, and, as chairman of the Library Board, was a driving force in building the new public library. She worked hard to get money allocated for the library and with the architect to save the sycamore trees on the site. In 1969, The Dalles named her their “Woman of the Year.”
After her children left for college, Bea became a travel agent for Hazel Phillips Travel, visiting many countries and leading tours all over the world. She was a lifelong Christian Scientist, a reader in her church, and a member of P.E.O. and the American Association of University Women. A cross-country skier and tennis player, she was also an avid reader and crossword puzzle solver, and later in life loved playing Words with Friends on her tablet with her grandchildren. Bea was a stickler for good grammar and didn’t hesitate to correct anyone who was unfortunate enough to say the wrong thing in front of her. Her children knew it was correct to say “Is that he?” even though they refused to actually say it. Bea is survived by her children James Dick, Johanna Wermers, Mary Lonergan, and Andrew Dick.