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E. M. Beaty, Former Contractor, Died Wednesday

Headed Firm Which Specialized In The Building Of Bridges

E. M. Beaty, life-long Blair man and early-day contractor, died last Wednesday, October 29th at Memorial Community Hospital in Blair. He was 83 years old.

Eugene Mark Beaty was a Blair native, having been born here May 30th, 1886 and having lived here all of his life. He was a graduate of Blair High School in the class of 1908 and he had had an active part in the growth of Blair and the business life of the community.

Following his graduation from High school, he attended the Armour Technical Institute in Chicago where he studied engineering. His father had been in the contracting business here and the engineering training fitted him well to continue the business. The firm dealt principally in bridge building, many of which were built for the expanding railroad lines of that period.

The Beaty family home was located at Seventeenth and South Streets and the Contracting Company’s material yards extended along the west side of Seventeenth Street to South Creek. In this area were stored the timbers used, the wagons and cranes and there was also a barn which housed the many mules which provided motive power for the wagons, the winches and other equipment. The era of power equipment had not yet begun.

For many years the Beaty Contracting Company built all of the bridges for Washington County as well as other nearby counties. They also filled railroad bridge building contracts in Colorado and Wyoming as well as throughout Nebraska.

He was married to Bess Roberts February 20, 1912. The couple built a new house two years later at the corner of 21st and Lincoln Streets and it has remained their home until this day. Mrs. Beaty preceded her husband in death several years ago.

As a younger man, Mr. Beaty filled many places in the community. He served on the library board from 1916 until 1961. He was a member of the Washington County Draft Board from 1941 to 1968 and he devoted many hours to the work during the trying days of World War II.

He was President of the Blair Rotary Club in 1958 and for several years was Secretary of the Blair Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. and Mrs. Beaty were parents of a daughter, Betty, now Mrs. William Hays, of Omaha. She survives her father. There are also two grandchildren. A sister, Mrs. Enid Rankin, lives at Medford, Oregon.

Services were held Friday, October 31st at St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church with burial in Holy Cross Cemetery in Blair. Pallbearers were John Young, Alfred O. Sick, Frank Cope, Frank Drbal, R. J. DesRosiers and Robert Macholan. ~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~