Louise Beebe

Louise asked Sue Ellen “Do you have an opening for an Alto 1?” after a 2013 concert. She said yes. At the first rehearsal, she felt warmly welcomed and comfortable. At the second, she had found “a home at Church of the Holy Spirit”! It was a first-in-a-lifetime experience to have a spiritual home! While Louise has been active in a church choir since 1975, singing God’s praises at COHS has been the most meaningful experience. Going on three choral pilgrimages to England has been a major highlight in her life.

Once at COHS, Louise expanded her involvement. In mid-2014 Rev. Kathy asked her to be Co-Lead (content) for the monthly newsletter SPIRITUS. This lasted for 6.5 years until the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. She formally joined COHS in March 2017. Louise has enjoyed getting to know parishioners through volunteering/participating in the Prayer Chain, Book Club, Co-Leading ENCORE, leading the Meal Ministry and Funeral Hospitality Ministry, regularly leading hospitality for music concerts, and developing presentations for Adult Forum and the First Friday Adult Faith Forum. Her spiritual development, which had languished for decades, accelerated at COHS through attending EFM (graduating in 2018), Meditation, Spiritual Friends, Adult Forum, special programs, and participating in a weekly online Bible study.

Louise graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education from Wilkes University in 1973. Her career included increasing professional positions in human resources administration at Standard Pressed Steel, Independence Blue Cross, and Johnson & Johnson. In 1992 she decided to change careers to clinical research (drug development) so went back to school to get Bachelor's and Master of Science degrees in Nursing at Holy Family University. Louise worked at Merck leading Clinical teams (with the assigned physician) in Phase II-IV domestic and international research studies in Gastroenterology and Neuroscience. Overall, she spent 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry before “retiring” in December 2012 to become the primary caregiver for her husband Richard, who suffered from advanced dementia.

In her supervisory and management capacities, mentoring and developing staff/colleagues had always been one of Louise’s most rewarding efforts. In 2019 she established a small LLC, Writing Ease with Louise Beebe, to continue this endeavor part-time. The focus is on helping Ph.D. candidates write their dissertations and other clients write articles and resumes, develop/conduct clinical research studies, create presentations, and prepare for interviews.

Louise looks forward to supporting COHS during this transition and beyond and is honored to be nominated to the Vestry.