FEDERALSBURG 鈥 Former Federalsburg Mayor William 鈥淏ill鈥 Beall died Friday, June 13, just after 5 p.m., according to his family.
Beal is remembered by friends and family for his dedication to the town. He was elected to his first term as mayor in September 2011 and was reelected to a second term in September 2013.
鈥淢y dad was a great man,鈥 Beall鈥檚 son, Ben Beall, said. 鈥淗e loved this town, and he loved just being able to find ways to to make it better for the people. He was never a man about himself or fortune or fame. He just wanted to do the right thing for the people in the community.鈥
Current Federalsburg Councilwoman Brandy James said she would get emails from Beall with advice on running the town.
Beall grew up in Texas. He majored in business administration and minored in marketing at Texas State University before he was recruited by the Dixie Cup division of the American Can Company. Beall was a sales representative in a number of cities and states before being promoted to district manager in the Baltimore/Washington area. From there, he was promoted to manager at corporate headquarters in Greenwich, Conn.
After 21 years with Dixie Cup, he took early retirement and was vice president of a national sales and marketing company. In 2002, he was recruited as a sales representative for Oakwood Homes in Delaware. Shortly afterward, he was promoted to general manager for its Jacksonville, North Carolina location. A reorganization sent Beall back to Federalsburg, where he was a senior energy analyst with Atlantic Energy Resources.
Beall and his wife, Madeline, were married for 60 years, they would鈥檝e celebrated 61 years together on the Fourth of July. They met when they were 14 years old. She said he waited until he was able to drive to take her on their first date.
鈥淲e were driving down the Main Street in Austin, Texas, and we drove we past the funeral home there, and he said, 鈥楶eople are just dying to get in there,鈥 and I thought that was so funny. He could always make me laugh,鈥 Madeline Beall said. 鈥淗umor and laughter is a big part of our family and our friends.鈥
Ben Beall remembered the time he went with his father to spring training to see their favorite team, the New York Yankees.
鈥淲e were big baseball fans and love the New York Yankees, and he brought me to Fort Lauderdale for spring training,鈥 Ben Beall said. 鈥淚 was 10 years old, and we went to a few games. He booked us at the the same hotel that the Yankees were staying at. So I got like 20 autographs, and I was just on Cloud 9. He just made it a really special weekend for me.鈥
Beall鈥檚 daughter Rebecca Beall-Ochsner remembered her father for all the work he did in Federalsburg for children.
鈥淗e was a huge advocate for kids,鈥 Ochsner said. 鈥淥ne of my fondest memories of coming to visit is when he bought really nice shirts and pants for some kiddos in the neighborhood to wear to church and gave them Bibles, and I think that that influenced them.鈥
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.