KS KS - Kim Beard, Parsons, circa 1950s

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wfgodot

wfgodot

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Mods, take this one down at will, absolutely no MSM I've found, but an interesting tale from my hometown. Kim Beard's pic recently appeared on one of my hometown's FB pages along with a short backstory -- happy and carefree, a young man bearing a fish walked along, a shot from the local paper. But there was more -- shortly after the shot, his brother (and I believe Kim accompanied him on the trip) had been killed when Parsons Boy Scout Troop 2 journeyed to Colorado on a camping trip in 1954.

Kim was the younger brother of Doug, killed on the expedition, and, a few years later, "took off" and was never seen again. His parents have never given up the search, and another member of Troop 2 -- based at the local Presbyterian Church -- reported the incident on FB (I believe he accompanied the troop to Colorado; he was a member) and has searched for Kim throughout the years he's gone missing. (And is a hugely responsible source.)
 
I'm very interested in this. May I please ask you if you have the picture of him? How old was he?
 
No idea as to his age at the time and I don't personally have a copy of his picture.
 
That's so sad. I hope they find out what happened to him.
 
It does sound like the storyline for a '50s movie doesn't it.

I know that the parents are now dead and that they did not speak the youths' names aloud after the youngest left the house for the last time.

That's about it. The person who has done most of the research on whereabouts is very bright and surely could have found Beard if the latter were easy to find.
 
Someone on ancestry.com has Kim in their tree. Born Kim David Beard on 4/12/1939 in Parsons KS. Died 9/15/1963 but no place. His brother Douglas Neil Beard, born 3/29/1938 and died 8/13/1953 in Del Norte CO. Also shows two siblings.
 
SophieRose said:
Someone on ancestry.com has Kim in their tree. Born Kim David Beard on 4/12/1939 in Parsons KS. Died 9/15/1963 but no place. His brother Douglas Neil Beard, born 3/29/1938 and died 8/13/1953 in Del Norte CO. Also shows two siblings.
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Interesting if true, as it provides a bit earlier death date ('53 instead of the '54 I'd learned), plus as well a possible departure (? from hometown) date later than I reckoned, listing that as a death date -- dead to famiy and friends I guess? Quite sad.
 
wfgodot said:
Interesting if true, as it provides a bit earlier death date ('53 instead of the '54 I'd learned), plus as well a possible departure (? from hometown) date later than I reckoned, listing that as a death date -- dead to famiy and friends I guess? Quite sad.
Click to expand...

Especially sad for parents to lose a young son and then ten years later another young son.

http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13195401001/ColoradoRocky-Mts-Wold-Creek-Pass

Colorado—Rocky Mts., Wolf Creek Pass: On 12 August 1953, Douglas Beard (15) and two companions, all members of a scout troop summer camp, set out to climb a steep slope above Wolf Creek Pass. About 100 feet up, Beard lost his footing and plunged to his death on sharp rocks.
 
SophieRose said:
Someone on ancestry.com has Kim in their tree. Born Kim David Beard on 4/12/1939 in Parsons KS. Died 9/15/1963 but no place. His brother Douglas Neil Beard, born 3/29/1938 and died 8/13/1953 in Del Norte CO. Also shows two siblings.
Click to expand...
Indeed, the 09 September 1963 sort of haunting...

He would have been 24+ -- A bit old to take off perhaps about events over ten years before...

Was he on the road then? Well, couldn't have possibly placed this on ancestry.com back in those days if results were leading to a suicide.

But it could have been the crux of the matter, a last trip back to Parsons and a decision made not to return.

Interesting and very sad, no matter.

Another thing to consider: 15 September 1963 saw a signal event in American history, a sort of "Bury my heart at Wounded Knee" for a generation" -- this was the day the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham AL was done. A lot of people felt displaced that day. Lots felt like not going home again.

I have no idea if this latter matters in deciding on the effect of that "9-15" date. But maybe.
 
According to ancestry.com, it looks like he attended Kansas State University in Manhattan in at least 1958 and 1959, majoring in engineering and architecture.
 
Very interesting....K-State being the less activist of the schools. Again, "means" nothing, but...
 
I grew up in the state of Kansas and lived in Manhattan (K-State) for two years. I also have a very good old friend from Parsons who lives there still. He is taking care of his aging father and I don't know how much time he has but I will email him to see if he can help us out.
 
Message sent but since no one has posted on his Facebook page since last July 4 I don't expect a speedy answer.
 
wfgodot said:
Indeed, the 09 September 1963 sort of haunting...

He would have been 24+ -- A bit old to take off perhaps about events over ten years before...

Was he on the road then? Well, couldn't have possibly placed this on ancestry.com back in those days if results were leading to a suicide.

But it could have been the crux of the matter, a last trip back to Parsons and a decision made not to return.

Interesting and very sad, no matter.

Another thing to consider: 15 September 1963 saw a signal event in American history, a sort of "Bury my heart at Wounded Knee" for a generation" -- this was the day the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham AL was done. A lot of people felt displaced that day. Lots felt like not going home again.

I have no idea if this latter matters in deciding on the effect of that "9-15" date. But maybe.
Click to expand...

I wonder where the ancestry poster got the info for his death since there isn't a location where he died. They didn't have anything on his father and just his mother's birthdate, born in 1910, but not when she died. And there was a brother and sister, and between them they had six children, so at least the parents had grandchildren.
 
Much interesting story to me again because. as a Parsonian and as a child, I as a member of Presbyterian's Pack 2 -- the Cub variety of Troop 2, which took the fatal Colorado jaunt and, though it was and is a small town, I did not know. And, not saying this ties in at all, but the sub-basements and basement areas of the gorgeous old Gothic-looking Presbyterian church in Parsons do have a certain haunted quality, and one does wonder.

http://goo.gl/E9CiGV left -- east -- side of church, far back, steps leading to basement where the Scout troops and packs gathered -- and some still may.
 
The info entered on ancestry.com may have been entered as early as the early 1990s as that's when a version of the site began compiling floppy disk information (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestry.com). It officially became ancestry.com in 1997.

In a way the case seems a perfect "Where's Waldo?" -- an innocuously sad story with a paucity of info on MSM about it.
 
Sophie - Where did you find the info about him being in Topeka in 1960? I'm curious because Kim wasn't used often as a male name until the next generation IIRC. I did have some friends named Kim and Kim B., but they were younger than I - I was born in 1960. I guess my question is - what is the likelihood of him using his middle name as his given name?
 
im1096 said:
Sophie - Where did you find the info about him being in Topeka in 1960? I'm curious because Kim wasn't used often as a male name until the next generation IIRC. I did have some friends named Kim and Kim B., but they were younger than I - I was born in 1960. I guess my question is - what is the likelihood of him using his middle name as his given name?
Click to expand...

A directory. Kim is even fairly rare today as a male name.
 
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