Leo Sidney Beam

Leo Sidney Beam was born in Strahan, Iowa on Wednesday, September 26, 1928, and he passed from this life into eternal life on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. On Saturday, April 24, 2021, Fry Funeral home will be hosting a Visitation at 1:00 PM and a Funeral Service at 2:00 PM officiated by Pastor Jonathan Smith. Immediately following services, Leo will be laid to rest in the Tipton Masonic Cemetery around 3:00 PM. A memorial fund has been established in Leo ‘s name. Family asks that all cards and memorials be mailed to 319 W 2nd St. Tipton, IA 52772, in c/o Suzanne Beam. Online condolences may be shared at www.fryfuneralhome.com. Leo’s parents were Sidney and Hazel Winifred (Dickerson) Beam from the Red Oak, IA area. He graduated from Coburg High School in 1946, Omaha Bible Institute in 1950, and the University of Omaha in 1954. At an early age, he came under the influence of God's Holy Word through the reading of Hurlburt's Bible Stories (although there was no actual Bible in the home). When the family moved to Coburg, at the age of thirteen, he came under the ministry of the American Sunday School Union in the persons of George Mowrey (the American Sunday School Union Missionary who invited him to Sunday school), Miss Dorothy Smith (who led him to place his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior) and Miss Thelma Joy Larsen (who influenced him to enroll in the Omaha Bible Institute, (where he graduated in 1950). In 1954, he graduated from the University of Omaha, married (Clara) Ann Schneider of Nebraska City, Nebraska, and was ordained to the Gospel ministry. He served as interim pastor and pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Louisville, Nebraska for two- and one-half years while also engaged in teaching in the public schools. He taught in the public schools of Elkhorn, Nebraska, (nine years) and Harlan, Iowa, (five years.) In 1971, he moved with his family to Tipton, Iowa, where he began to teach in the Tipton Bible Church School (now Tipton Christian Academy) continuing thus for the next thirty-one years. Leo is survived by, two sons and two daughters, Scott Beam, Suzanne Beam and Donna (Dennis) Hansen of Tipton, IA, and Jonathan (Hope) Beam of Maquoketa, IA; 16 grandchildren and more than 7 great-grandchildren. (All the grandchildren and Great Grand Children are adopted or are foster children, but all have always been especially precious to him. He has proudly worn the title "Grandpa" for many others down through the years, but these are the ones who are the "most special" to him at the present time. He was preceded in death by his parents, Sidney and Hazel; his wife, Ann; an infant son, David Sidney; son, Michael (West) Beam; and three sisters, Alice Marie Johnson, Dorothy Winifred Beam, and Altha Mae Laabs.