For Olympia’s Ben Bean, giving to community is a family calling

The patriarch of one of Olympia’s most influential families looks back on his life and recalls his father’s advice: “You can’t always take from a city. You’ve got to give of yourself to it.”

“We’ve always looked at it that way,” said Ben Bean, 92.

Bean, who has survived multiple surgeries, including on his back and heart, has been diagnosed with liver cancer. Recently, during a visit in his longtime west Olympia home that he shares with his wife, Edie, and two substantial cats, Maidel and Dreidel, he reflected on his life in Olympia and his family’s role in the city.

“The family business is philanthropy,” his son, Dan Bean, said.

Ben’s father, Earl, founded Olympia Supply Co. in 1906. It’s the longest-tenured, family-owned local business in Olympia, Dan said. The century-old store has been managed by three generations of the Bean family. The current store, owned by Ben’s nephew, Jeff, is at 625 Columbia St. SW and has girders from the remains of the “Galloping Gertie” Tacoma Narrows Bridge that collapsed in 1940.

Kathy Waltermeyer has worked there for 23 years. “Ben still pops in and visits us,” she said.

Nephew Tom Bean, outsides sales manager for Olympia Supply, said that when Ben sold his controlling interest in the company, he said he would only give advice when he was asked. Tom said that Ben is the bridge between the immigrant generation and the younger members of the Bean family.

“We kind of won the birth lottery,” he said.

Ben’s father, Earl, was among the founders of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in 1937.

Ben carried the family torah to the new temple for its dedication in 2004. Now, at 92, he grants himself some privileges, even calling Rabbi Seth Goldstein, recently named one of the most inspirational rabbis in the country, “boychik” (Yiddish for youngster).

“He can get away with that,” Goldstein said.

“Ben and his family are cornerstones of the Jewish community in Olympia,” Goldstein said. “We wouldn’t have a Jewish community if it weren’t for the Bean family” and its early and ongoing contributions, he said.

Ben Bean, born and raised in Olympia, went into the family business after graduating from Olympia High School and a stint in the Army.

He married Edie in 1953, after she yielded to a cousin’s suggestion that she consider Ben.

“He’s too old,” Edie said she protested. “At 23 and 30, seven years seemed a long time. Now, it’s nothing.”

Edie grew up in Portland, where their daughter, Linda, an interior designer, now lives.

“I took one out and put one back,” Ben laughs, repeating a line that is obviously a family standard.

Ben was active in the early days of Capital Lakefair and served as its president, as well as on many committees. He and Edie spent a lot of time with Lakefair princesses, driving them around, getting the float to parades. Sometimes, the court would have to change in a gas station, Edie recalls.

The Lakefair float is a huge project to build and transport, but one memorable year was a Daffodil Parade where the daffodils refused to bloom.

“Oh, they were like asparagus!” Ben said. They tried putting them in warm water to encourage them to open up, but didn’t get far with that strategy.

Ben is the last living of six children, four boys and two girls. His brother, Percy, also was active in philanthropy, including raising money for Providence St. Peter Hospital and the Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

Dan remembered his parents appearing in the fundraiser Hospital Happenings every year.

“Dad would dress up in drag,” he said. “Now it would be no big deal, but as a kid growing up, it was the most embarrassing time.”

Ben Bean retired at age 62, and in the intervening 30 years, he and Edie have traveled the world, as well as spending many winters in Arizona. They’ve been to Israel, Egypt, Italy, the Caribbean “a bunch of times,” Mexico, China and Japan.

Along the way, Edie has collected dozens of cat figurines. Some are elegant crystal, others are colorful folk art, and one is an odd cottony figure in a basket. The artist added whiskers made from his own hair, but her cats ate them, Edie said.

Ben enjoyed a good game of chance, especially blackjack, he said. An ardent football fan, he also was known to organize friendly football pools. The couple used to attend all home Husky and Seahawks games, and Edie put a lot of effort into tailgating. They watch on television now, after the trips to the Seattle stadiums became too taxing.

After heart surgery, Ben took part in St. Peter Hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation program. Although he stopped going recently, he thinks he participated more years than anyone else.

“Every year we get a T-shirt, and I think I have 28,” he said.

“He was very committed,” said supervisor Mike McCusker. “It was a very social environment for his group,” McCusker added, saying it was good for participants to see Bean as a good example of how life goes on after surgery.

When he was 83, Ben and two friends had a second bar mitzvah.

Goldstein said it’s a Jewish custom to celebrate a second bar mitzvah at 83, based on Psalm 90, which says the average lifespan is 70 years. Since boys are bar mitzvahed at 13, reaching 83 is a second coming of age, he said.

Edie cooked for the celebration, as she did for many temple activities. In fact, the kitchen at Temple Beth Hatfiloh is named “Edie’s Kitchen.”

One of her favorite dishes is chopped liver: chicken liver, schmaltz, onion and eggs.

It is a favorite for Ben, too. “My mother used to make chopped liver with beef and I hated it,” he said.

His appetite isn’t what it used to be, challenging Edie’s considerable culinary skills. And he’s outlived most of his friends.

“He says one of the hardest things about living so long is there’s no one left to go to lunch with,” Dan said.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 3:49 PM with the headline "For Olympia’s Ben Bean, giving to community is a family calling."