Nora Irene (Beers) Beers

Nora Irene Beers was born near Fairmount, Illinois on January 12, 1924 to Ernest and Jean Beers. She attended Wesley School, a rural one-room country elementary school, then later graduated from Sidell​High School. She also graduated from Moody Bible Institute, Pestalozzi Frobel Teachers College (a branch of the National Teacher’s College--Bachelor of Education), the University of Illinois (BA, major in English and Spanish, and minor in French and Italian), and the University of Michigan (MA, major in the Education of the Mentally Retarded and minor in teaching hospitalized children).

During the early part of her career, Nora, who had become fluent in Spanish, did translation work for the Aeromotor​ Windmill Company, McGraw Hill Publishers, and Harvard University.

Nora invested most of her career teaching about 4,000 blind, deaf, and multiple-handicapped children, many with Down’s Syndrome. To equip her for her work, she took numerous graduate courses specializing in teaching handicapped children. She also became fluent in Braille.

She began her work with handicapped children at the University of Michigan Hospital, teaching children with contagious diseases and teaching in the Isolation Ward. For a short time, she did volunteer work with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. She attended Perkins School for the Blind in a program associated with Boston University. Perkins was the school where Helen Keller studied. She also taught at the Utah School for the Deaf and the California School for the Blind, and the Riverside County schools (California), as well as schools in San Diego, California.

Nora has lived an exemplary Christian life, with a beautiful legacy for her friends and family. She carried her highly-educated record quietly and with humility. She will be deeply missed by all of us who knew and loved her.



 

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