Beverly Ray Thygesen

Beverly Ray Thygesen was born January 8, 1931 in Grand Island, Nebraska to Gertrude and L.E. Ray. She had interests in music and domestic arts, being involved in choirs and operettas, and graduated from Grand Island High School in 1947. Beverly attended Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she studied Home Economics and was a member of the Willard Sorority.

In 1951, she married John W. Turnbull who was then serving in the Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. While in San Antonio, she had her first daughter, Linda, and then returned to Lincoln to complete her Bachelor of Arts degree. Thereafter, Bev completed a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Beverly and her husband John moved to Denver, CO in 1956. They had their second daughter, Cynthia in 1957. They bought a new house in Arvada where Beverly raised the girls. June was born in 1960. Beverly was very involved in Sweet Adeline's Barbershop music at that time, and her quartet, The High Hopes, won first place in the regional championship in 1965.

In 1963, Beverly began her career as a teacher for the Denver Public Schools, after getting a divorce and finding it necessary to support the girls. Starting as a Kindergarten and PE teacher, she eventually moved into a role of teaching four year olds in a federally funded early childhood education program. She remained in that position for the 25 remaining years she worked at DPS, retiring in 1988. She was very fulfilled by working with the young children, most whom only spoke Spanish and learned their first English worlds under her tutelage.

In 1967, Beverly met and married Leon Thygesen who was a Civil Engineer who worked for the US Government. They were married for 33 years and Leon really help Beverly when she decided to embark on a sideline career in the real estate world. They were a force in the business world, and really enjoyed their side hobby of buying and selling real estate. They moved to the house they both loved on Lookout Mountain in 1983.

In retirement, Beverly traveled the world with her husband, Leon, going to Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, Alaska, China, Norway, and South America and all through Europe. They also traveled to many other places in the United States by way of a camper they took on long excursions.

In 2000, Leon passed away after a five-year journey of rehabilitation from a massive stroke. Beverly was devotedly caring for him during those years and they were actually travelling in Argentina when Lee passed away.


Beverly continued to travel the world in subsequent years with her daughters, granddaughters and her dear friend and companion Ed Cutrell (until his passing in 2012). With Ed, she became friends with Captain Jim Gunning and his wife Lori, and each year traveled to the British Columbia waterways on Jim's 60-foot boat. They would experience nature up-close in the coves and inlets seeing lots of wildlife and incredible scenery. She cherished her friendship with Jim, and thought of him as a son. In the end, Beverly travelled to every continent by air, ship, riverboat and train. She absolutely loved adventure and experiencing other cultures.

Beverly had many friends and many hobbies in her retirement. She met with her fellow retired teachers from Valdez Elementary for lunch on a regular basis for years. She also loved connecting with the folks from Lookout Mountain, being part of a ladies coffee group, a knitting group and FAC at Mount Vernon each week. She was an amazing creator of beautiful quilts, needlepoint, knitted items and other crafts.

Her love of Life and her love for people were evident in how she lived each day, and how she fought this past year to have just a little more time to enjoy this beautiful Life she had created.

Beverly is survived by her daughters Linda Keagy (Fred Keagy), Cynthia Turnbull (Dana Berry) and June Turnbull, Grandchildren Joel Comstock, Kristen Bauer (Scott Bauer), Alyson Evans (Chase Evans), Arielle Hein (Jace Dispenza), Nathaniel Hein, Sophia Smith, Rankin Langley and Great-Grandchildren Logan, Peyton and Naia.