William Ward Beecher

William Ward Beecher was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 1, 1921. His Parents were Adolph William Beecher and Beatrice duBlan. From his earliest efforts it was clear that he possessed a natural talent for rendering his vision to almost any medium he worked with.  The earliest surviving 'art' is from when he was 9 years old, crayon on construction paper, that shows his sense of form and color. 

 Because Bill turned 8 at the beginning of the Great Depression he did not attend art school or have any formal training until after returning from World War II.  It was during the War, with his time in England, he had entered an art contest and won.  From that lift he set his sites on pursuing the life of a painter.

  In 1946 he met Dolores Katherine Laredo while working as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan.  As he told the story, he spotted her on her first day on the job and asked her out to dinner.  He claims to have been smitten from that moment on and married her on May 16, 1947.

 They had four children.  Starting in 1949 Christopher William Beecher was born on August 20th.  Chris later added Ward as a middle name and signed Christopher W.W. Beecher.   On February 1st, 1950 Dana Ward Beecher was born. In 1951, June 6th  Robert Gordon Beecher was born.  He later added Jonathan as a middle name.  Though unofficial, he signed Robert Jonathan Gordon Beecher.  In 1956 Karen Beecher was born on April 20th.

 His wife, Dolores, was known as 'Lori'.  She and Bill lived on East 61st St. off 5th Ave. until they bought a house at 53 East 82nd St., a five story town house across the street from Public school #6, where Chris, Dana, Rob and Karen went to school.

  In 1957 Lori and Bill bought a farmhouse on 60 acres in Strasburg, PA.  It became the Summer home for Chris, Dana, Rob and Karen.  Many great times were spent by the pond, or in the "back 40" acres of woods and shale pits.  In the Summer, many a Saturday morning saw the boys, and sometimes Karen, walking the "8 Mile Hike" while Lori and Bill slept in late.  

   Then, back to New York City, to the townhouse on 82nd Street, for the Autumn, Winter, Spring, with occasional weekend visits to Pennsylvania.

  In September, 1967 the whole family moved to Cornwall, Connecticut.  In a way, it was a return to Litchfield County for the Beechers, but not this branch of the famous tree from Lyman Beecher.   As you'll see from following the links backward in time, William was of the Isaac Beecher tree, as was Lyman, but different branches.

   After initially living in the Foote house on Rt. 4 for a year, the family moved to a 1790 house at 75  South Rd. in East Cornwall.  Bill made this house his 'painting studio' because it was at the top of a hill with abundant natural light.  He had his most productive years there and produced paintings that expressed his deepest concepts of light and illusion. 

Bill's paintings can be viewed at his website:  www.williamwardbeecher.com 

   Bill loved puttering around his 'studio' on the top of the hill.  He painted in the glow of north light at his studio window and kept his vegetable garden.  

   In this house, in October, 1972, Bill was waiting up late for his only daughter, Karen, to return home.  At 2 am two state troopers knocked on his door and he collapsed.  Karen was dead. Killed in a car accident in Great Barrington, MA.

   When Lori's mother, May, became ill, Lori bought a house at 9 Bolton Hill Rd., down the hill in Cornwall Plains, known as the Parsonage, because it had been the Parsonage for the Cornwall Congregational Church across the road.   After Lori, died in 1993, Bill moved into the Parsonage for the remainder of his life.

   Bill died in Sharon Hospital on October 17, 2006.