Jo Beers

(From Schowengerdt Funeral Home)

Alice Joanne Beers, age 90, of Joplin, Missouri, passed away peacefully at home Saturday, May 25, 2024. Known all her life as “Jo”, she was born February 10, 1934 in Miller, Cleburne County, Arkansas, the daughter of Roy Elmer and Gladys Ferol (Dugger) Burns.

As a child of the 1930s and 40s in the South, she grew up with no electricity and no running water. Their bathroom was an outhouse, which she said was cold in the winter and hot in the summer. 

 The family grew a huge garden and canned all the vegetables which were then stored in the cellar. They always had chickens, a milk cow and also raised a cow and pig to butcher for meat. They had a few apple trees and picked blackberries and huckleberries to make jams and pies. Jo aways said she guessed they were poor growing up but she never went hungry and had everything she needed to thrive with lots of love in the home.

Jo went to a two-room school with separate outhouses for girls and boys. The number one game they played outside was baseball. She was only able to complete 8th grade and left school to work in the fields to help support the family. This was not an uncommon practice for the time. Though she had very little schooling, she was highly educated about life in general and full of good ole common sense.

She married Harold Dee Wood on September 17, 1949 in Heber Springs, Arkansas. They had three children, then moved to California and had another child. They later divorced. Jo met Donald Eugene Beers in 1962 and after ten years together, they married December 1, 1972 in McAlester, Oklahoma. This union produced one daughter.

Jo and Don moved to Adrian, Missouri in 1968 and lived there until they retired in 1999 when they moved to Joplin, Missouri and lived next door to their daughter, Carolyn Hartsell and husband Eddie. While living in Adrian, Jo started a day-care which she ran for a little over 20 years. She loved the children she took care of and said they helped keep her young. In her lifetime she enjoyed embroidering, music and was an avid reader. She also loved to dance, doing the jitter bug with Don in their younger years.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers, Billy and Max Burns; two sons, Bill and Steve Wood; two sisters-in law, Frankie and Loania Burns; and one son-in-law, Eddie “Tobe” Hartsell.

Survivors include her husband Don Beers of the home; one son, Jerry Wood and wife Kathy of Butler, Missouri; two daughters, Carolyn Hartsell of Joplin Missouri and Kathy Beers and partner Stephanie Mills of Belleville, Illinois; one daughter-in-law, Nancy Young of Hidden Valley Lake, California; one brother, Jim Burns and partner Shari Reed of Bella Vista, Arkansas; and two nephews, Jimmy Burns of Palm Springs, California and Rockey Burns and partner Robbin Gorman of Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

Jo was blessed with six grandchildren, Trent Wood of Middletown, California, Tara Mendez (deceased) of Santa Rosa, California, Sara Wood (Scott) of Hidden Valley Lake, California, Bethany Wood of Concord, California, Andrea Wood Baxter of Butler, Missouri and Michael Wood (Jennifer) of Holt’s Summit, Missouri. She also had ten great grandchildren.

The family would like to express their gratitude to Phoenix Home Care and Hospice for the care Jo received in the months before her death. A very special thank you to Brian Denmark and Brittany McHaffie for the loving care they gave to Jo whom they treated like family.