Dorothy "Mac" Beyers, longtime Babylon Village resident and R.N.
By Carolyn James
When Mac Beyers was diagnosed with cancer, she spoke with courage about her disease to her friend Anita North. "She told me that she didn't know how to die," said North, a friend of Beyers for more than 20 years. "But she knew how to live, because her memorial service was a tribute to her and the many connections she made with people throughout her life."
 | | Dorothy "Mac" Beyers |
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Dorothy M. "Mac" Beyers, the wife of Dr. Milton Beyers and a longtime resident of Babylon Village died May 28, 2008 of lung cancer. "She was a happy lady, right until the end," said North. "She had a big smile and a great personality." She could also be described as a Renaissance woman. A talented health professional, writer, artist, and poet, she also found time to not only care for her own family but also to serve as a community volunteer, a mentor to young nursing students and teacher to mentally and physically handicapped children. She was a mainstay around Babylon Village for decades, having moved here in 1951. She was a member of many organizations, including the Babylon Business Women, where she served as president. She was also a founder of the Mohawk Players, an amateur theatrical group. The couple moved to Bay Shore in 2001. Mrs. Beyers was born July 28, 1925 to William and Dorothy McTague in East Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania. While in high school, she was a runner-up in the first Pennsylvania Westinghouse Talent Search, and was offered numerous scholarships. She turned them down, however, to stay home and help her family through some financial difficulties. She later attended Kings County Hospital School of Nursing in Brooklyn, New York. There she met her husband, and the couple wed in 1946. Susan Bela, the publisher of the
Great South Bay Magazine where Mrs. Beyers was a contributing columnist, recalls a woman who was able to take real-life and personal experiences and present them in a way that made them relevant to the human condition. ""We could all share something in her columns," said Bela. "Whether she was talking about her training during the war as a nurse or living in a small town, she wrote with warmth and joy."
Her longtime friend Betty Hanse said that her death will be "a loss that will be with me forever. We looked upon each other as sisters."
In recalling her friend, Hanse said it was her steadfastness, and her ability to be appropriately humorous and serious, that she loved about her. "I just loved her company," she said. In addition to her husband, Mrs. Beyers is survived by daughters Beth Frankel and her husband Richard and Sally Atkins. She is also survived by her grandchildren Alison D'Amico and her husband Thomas, Matthew Beyers, Nicholas Atkins, Rebecca Graffis and her husband Craig, and her great grandchildren, Gabrielle and Julia D'Amico. Her sister Helen May Atcheson and her husband Frederick of Cincinnati, Ohio, also survive her. She was predeceased by her son William. A time of remembrance was held at Fredrick J. Chapy & Sons Funeral Home in West Islip Sat. May 31, 2008. Interment of cremated remains followed in Pinelawn Memorial Park, Pinelawn, N.Y. The family has requested that donations in Mrs. Beyers' name be made to Good Shepherd Hospice, 4747-20 Nesconset Highway, Port Jefferson Station NY
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