Beasley, Everett

Beazley, Everett…4/4/1968

Services for Everett Beasley, eighty-two, owner of Everett Beasley Dry Goods Wholesale, Inc., will be at 2 p.m. at the residence, 5030 Granny White Pike. The body will be at the residence and arrangements are under the direction of Finley Dorris and Charlton Funeral Home. Beasley died at Baptist Hospital Thursday. Survivors include his widow, the former Miss Docia Marsh June; two sons, Charles Phillip (Bud) Beasley and Col. Everett Lyn Beasley, (ret.) both of Nashville; three sisters, Mrs. Charlene Tidwell and Mrs. Paul Strickland, both of Murfreesboro, and Mrs. Hugh Travis, Nashville; four brothers, Foster Beasley, Carlisle Beasley and Robert Beasley all of Nashville, and Clarence Beasley of Murfreesboro, and seven grandchildren. Active pallbearers will be Jennings Davis, Dr. William Hood, F.N. McNeill, Everett Morehead, Charles Moss, R.L. Martin, William Stephens, and Paul Swindell, all of Nashville.

The Tennessean…Friday, April 5, 1968, Everett Beasley, Merchant, Dies

Everett Beasley, eighty-three, head of Everett Beasley, Inc., on the Public Square, veteran Nashville wholesaler and civic leader, died last night at his home 5030 Granny White Pike. Beasley started his business career as a salesman for Herman Bros, Lindauer & Co., in 1904 and traveled in Middle Tennessee until that firm was absorbed by J. S. Reeves and Co., of Nashville in 1914. He represented Reeves and Co. until 1927, when he started his own wholesale business from his garage at his home in Petersburg. Tennessee.

Two friends manufactured overalls and socks with which he opened his business to serve his old customers. The business grew rapidly, and he moved to a building on the square in Petersburg, where two of his brothers became associated with him in 1931. Despite the depression years, his business grew to the point where he moved to Nashville in February 1936 to 304-6 Broadway, with five brothers associated with him in the firm. He purchased the property at 332 Public Square in 1943 and had operated the wholesale dry goods and notion business there since that time. He served all Middle Tennessee., North Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Southern Kentucky in his trading area.

Beasley was active in the Chamber of Commerce, with special interest in the Farmers’ Club, and served for years as a judge in the Community program. He was one of the founders of the Lakeshore Home for the Aged on Acklen Avenue and active in the operation of the home. He was an elder in the Otter Creek Church of Christ. He was a member of the Civitan Club. Born in Pleasantville in Hickman County, May 29, 1885, he moved to Petersburg as a young man and married Miss Docia Marsh on June 28, 1911. He lived there until he moved to Nashville. The oldest in a family of six brothers and five sisters, he was associated with all five of his brothers in the wholesale business in Nashville. One brother, Carlisle, is still with the business, now directed by his son, Charles Phillip (Bud) Beasley.

Services will be held at his home at 2 p.m., tomorrow. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery. Full arrangements had not been completed last night. Finley Dorris Funeral Home is in charge.

Comments by Pam White

Everett Beasley served as an Elder at Otter Creek for many years. My father, Kennedy Green, greatly appreciated his mentorship. It is my understanding that Lakeshore Home for the Aged was conceived and fostered under Everett Beasley’s leadership. He served ably on that board of directors throughout his life. As a young woman I was impressed with his foresight and planning and his partnership with his dear Ms. Docia. Theirs was a household where a practical approach to living was valued and real people met real problems head-on with grace and fortitude.