Joan Beckmeyer Maxwell

Joan Beckmeyer Maxwell, a longtime resident of Nashville, Illinois, and lately of Sarasota, Florida, died peacefully on October 15, 2022. She had suffered a fall October 3 that resulted in a broken hip. In her last days after her fall, she was comforted by visits from two of her children and one of her granddaughters, as well as church members and friends. Joan was born to Myrtle Johnpeter and Gustav Henry Beckmeyer November 12, 1923. She attended public schools in Nashville and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In 1944 she married her former classmate Francis E. Maxwell, who later practiced law then served as a circuit court judge in Nashville. Joan worked in an abstract of title office in Urbana while Francis finished his education at the University of Illinois, and he went to war in 1944. After returning to Nashville, Joan managed an abstract of title company in conjunction with Francis. Joan was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church, first in Nashville and later in Sarasota, the American Legion Auxiliary, Red Cross blood drives, the Kaskaskia Library board, and the Lincoln Academy, among other good works that she participated in. She was an active and talented athlete playing tennis and swimming regularly, as well as enjoying other outdoor activities including canoeing with her sister-in-law Alice Beckmeyer and some of her children at times. For almost a decade, she delighted in road trips from Chicago to drop off her granddaughters at Camp Lake Hubert for sleep away camp, a camp she herself attended as a child. Joan was exposed early to the urban environment she came to love visiting by accompanying her parents on buying trips to St. Louis as part of her family operating Beckmeyer‘s department store, most recently in Nashville. She enjoyed cultural activities including the municipal opera in St. Louis and was a staunch advocate of the arts and education for her children and society in general, and reluctantly embraced team sports as her son Andy played baseball and basketball. Joan was excited to join Francis when he went to sit as a judge in Chicago, not only because she enjoyed the change of pace, but because for many years three of her four children lived there as well as all three of her grandchildren. Francis was a little less enthused about the urban environment but was a good sport. Family was the most important thing to Joan and Francis. After Francis retired, they spent more time in Florida. In Sarasota, they lived on the golf course at Palm Aire country club, where they both enjoyed tennis, swimming, and golf (Francis only!) and other outdoor activities, and in 2011 moved to the retirement community at Bay Village where they resided until first Francis and then Joan passed away. Joan was predeceased by her beloved husband of 73 years, Francis; one daughter Rebecca Maxwell (Tucson, AZ); her brother G. R. “Bob” Beckmeyer and her good friend/sister-in-law Alice Beckmeyer; her nephew Karl Beckmeyer; and her great niece Alicia Beckmeyer Springer. Left to mourn this loving woman and mother are her children Margaret Maxwell Zagel (Hon. James B. Zagel) (Chicago, IL), Andrew Maxwell (Ann Emge Maxwell) (Chicago), Kathryn Maxwell (Michael Perrino)(Tempe, AZ); and her three grandchildren Sarah Maxwell (Josh), Caroline Maxwell Page (David), and Lily Ruth Maxwell, as well as five great grandchildren Henry, Andrew, and James Page, and Genevieve and Charlotte Hutchison; her nephew Gus Beckmeyer, and other great nieces and nephews and many friends. A memorial service is planned and will be announced at a later time. A memorial website is being created at JoanMaxwellMemorial.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church or to the American Red Cross.

Tributes

Joan Beckmeyer Maxwell

November 12, 1923 - October 15, 2022