BEAVERS, Virgil G.

Virgil G. Beavers, 90, of Grand Island, died Wednesday, August 17, 2005 at his home. Funeral services will be on Monday at 2:00 P.M. at Livingston-Sondermann Funeral Home. The Rev. Jerry Quandt will officiate. Burial will be at Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be on Sunday from 4:00 until 8:00 P.M. at the funeral home. Mr. Beavers was born on January 30, 1915 at Edgar, Nebraska to Gardie and Maude (Rathbun) Beavers Sr. Survivors of the immediate family include his wife, Eleanor Beavers of Grand Island; two brothers and sisters-in-laws, Gardie Beavers Jr. and his wife Betty of Carleton, Nebraska, and Don and Rosella Beavers of Ft. Collins, Colorado. Additional survivors include two sisters-in-laws, Mickie Fadely of Salem, Oregon, and Gertrude Beavers of Grand Island; and well as numerous nieces and nephews. Mr. Beavers attended school in Davenport and graduated in 1933. He entered the U.S. Army in December of 1941. He served with the 47th Engineers in Okinawa, Saipan, and the Marshall Islands. He once went four years without a furlough. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Mr. Beavers married Eleanor Fritz on August 11, 1965 in Santa Anna, California. He raised and trained race horses in Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and West Virginia. His horse ‘Hunk’ won the Nebraska Bred 2 year old Stallion Stakes at AK-SAR-BEN. Another horse, ‘Jigger Jim’ was the 3 year old Nebraska Bred horse of the year, and his horse, ‘Kid Heathen’ won 19 races as a Nebraska Bred horse. He was in the racing industry for over 40 years. Mr. Beavers was a life member of the American Legion, V.F.W. and the D.A.V. and also a member of the Masonic Lodge in Davenport, Nebraska. He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, Loyal Beavers, and Dale Beavers, and one sister, Cleo Beavers.