Dorothy Rita (Shea) Beauvais, the daughter of Irish immigrants Timothy Joseph Shea and Nora Casey Shea entered this world on December 9, 1922. On Saturday, January 30, 2016, a particularly beautiful and sunny winter day, she was reunited with her loved ones in the comforting arms of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She was the 4th born and last surviving child entrusted to the care of her loving parents.

She was born and raised in Fitchburg, MA. She was a freshman at St. Bernard's High School where she caught the eye of another freshman, an immediately and totally smitten Richard A. Beauvais. They quickly fell in love and after a beautiful and chaste courtship of 10 years, they were united in marriage on November 11, 1946. They had a deep and abiding love that lasted 60 years. When her beloved Richard died on October 17, 1996, she knew her life would never be the same. She bravely carried on for nearly another 20 years. She knew there would never be another like her dearly departed husband and stated "when you've had the best, forget the rest!"

In 1954 with her first two children, Dickie and Bobby in tow, and a third on the way, the family moved to Madrid, Spain. In September of that year, her only daughter, Judy was born. While still in Spain, she was blessed with another son, John, an 11-pounder who set the birth-weight record at the relatively new hospital. After 6 wonderful and adventurous years in Spain, the family returned to the United States where they lived in Great Falls, MT for just shy of a year. In the summer of 1961, she and her loving and growing family moved to San Antonio. In October of 1964, her fifth and what would be her last child, Brian, was born. Tragically, Brian died shortly after birth, but he was forever in her large, and tender heart. In September of 1978, John, who frequently called her "nice, pretty, beautiful Mother," was called back to Heaven. It was a devastating loss, but somehow she managed to marshal on. Upon the retirement of her loving, always deeply caring (and very handsome!) Richard, they travelled extensively. There were numerous trips back to Fitchburg to visit family and friends, to Alaska, twice to Hawaii, numerous trips to Las Vegas and 4 vacations to her ancestral home in Ireland, where she discovered, and was warmly welcomed by, first cousins she had been unaware of.

She was very generous with both her time and money. Rosa Hawkins, who manages the affairs of the St. Vincent de Paul Society's chapter at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church dubbed her "The St. Vincent de Paul Angel" for her frequent and often very generous donations. She was an active and supporting member of St. Gregory's for over 54 years. She had also been a volunteer driver for cancer patients, taking them to and from their appointments when they were too ill or weak to drive themselves. She was just a wonderful and very caring person. She was truly a lady in every positive sense of the word. Sadly she lost a third son, her first born Richard Jr., in 2009, another devastating blow, yet still she persevered. She was truly remarkable!

In addition to her always very sweet and doting husband and her 3 precious children, she was predeceased by her 3 brothers, 2 sisters, and close and longtime friends Jerry and Georgette Caples, the maternal grandparents of her three grandchildren. She was also predeceased by a very special friend Helen Whited of Fredericksburg, who for reasons unbeknownst to us, she affectionately dubbed our mother "Dorf". Helen was a lovely lady, but also a bit of a character, so they got along swimmingly! Prior to husband Richard's illness, they were avid square dancers and bowlers. While square dancing they met and became great friends with Leo and "Sunny" Suhor. Sadly Leo too has passed, but "Sunny" was there for our mother. She was a great friend and a real comfort to our mother for many years. "Sunny" had been christened Milton Lee in memory of her father, who died before she was born. "Sunny" lived up to her nickname as she truly had a sunny disposition. She was a real ray of sunshine in many of our Mother's darker moments.

Sweet and loving Dorothy is survived by son Robert (Bob), daughter Judy Billig; grandsons Richard A. Beauvais III (Rick), Timothy Joseph Beauvais (Tim); granddaughter, Jeannette Marie Day; and great-grandchildren: Alexis and Sean Day. Pallbearers will be grandsons, Tim and Rick; brothers, Larry and Frank McGonagle, Bob's great friends since 1961; Bruce Halverson, Bob's good friend since 1968; and Akbar Foroushani, a great friend of the entire family for over 30 years and Bob's fishing apprentice since 1983.

The family would like to thank all her nurses and especially doctors E.R. Lochte III, Jean Liu, and Y. Gia Dice. It was only their expert knowledge and compassionate care that kept her going strong far beyond her life expectancy. The Family would also like to express their grateful and heartfelt thanks to the wonderful and caring staff of VITAS Hospice, and particularly to Elizabeth Denton who was there at the end and provided daughter Judy and son Bob remarkably kind and caring solace with much needed comforting thoughts and words.

FUNERAL SERVICES

Visiation will begin Tuesday evening at 6:00 P.M. at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church with a Rosary to be recited at 7:00 P.M. Funeral Mass will be offered Wednesday at 11:00 A.M. at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church. Interment will follow at San Fernando Archdiocesan Cemetery No.2.

MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS