Sanford D. Beecher, Jr. ’54 died April 23, 2012.
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SANFORD DENT BEECHER ’54
The time has come to script a memorial to a true human with whom I had the privilege of rooming with for two years: Sandy Beecher.
At Sandy’s memorial service in Milford, Pa., I happened to be seated beside a gracious lady who asked how I knew Sandy. In college as students, I explained. She blossomed and explained what a blessing he was to the community and the legal profession in Milford—“He was a man of the people, a lawyer’s lawyer, a joy to be with … and, above all, a really fun, intelligent human being. He has left a memory we will all cherish.”
His son and daughters spoke of him at the service. While it was emotional for them to speak, it was plain to see that he was a wonderful dad and truly lived on in their lives.
On the surface, much of what Sandy engineered at Amherst was “crazy”: double dates where we were designated “the most obnoxious ever,” passing baby snakes to a pest of a neighbor through her son, impossibly parking a brother’s car on the fraternity patio between the house and the patio wall, and so on, and on and on. Being with him was exciting and dangerous—to say the least—but what fun!
Sandy was an individual with truly sensitive perspectives. He did not do what the system expected of us in the ’50s. He followed his nose. Although he had a sinecure in a Philadelphia law firm, he chose to practice in Milford, Pa., where he could live on his terms— hunt, fish, but most importantly, be a human among other humans.
Life is no more than a brief flash between two eternities. We were fortunate to have Sandy’s flash intersect with ours.
—Bill Clark ’53