Obituary: Beverly Louise Nielsen Rice

Published 12:15 am Friday, April 12, 2024

Beverly Louise Nielsen Rice loved to sit out on her sun porch and watch the folks walking the Seaside Promenade. She said it was “her window on the world.” She passed away at age 98 in Vancouver, Washington, on March 26.

Born in Portland to Victor and Lucille Nielsen on Sept. 16, 1925, she and her older brother, Richard, had an enjoyable childhood living in the Pacific Heights neighborhood.

While in high school, she worked in the payroll department in the downtown store of Meier and Frank, where her father was paymaster.

During World War II, Beverly was traveling from Portland to San Diego to visit a friend. At a stop south of Portland, there was one open seat next to her on the train. That was how she met a young sailor on shore leave from the U.S. Navy, headed to visit his sister in San Francisco.

A year or two later, in August 1945, she married that young sailor, Stanley Rice. They then moved to Southern California, where they eventually became the parents of four children, Gregg (and his wife, Juli), Alison (and her husband, Paul), Scott and Vikki.

After living in Santa Monica and Reseda, California, for almost 20 years, they moved to Huntington Beach, California, in 1964. They later opened a very successful stationery store and one of the first video rental businesses in Orange, California.

In 1986, Bev and Stan retired and sold their Southern California businesses to their son, Scott. They moved to Seaside to live with and help care for her newly widowed father, Victor.

They ended up inheriting the home and, after Stan passed away in 1994, Bev continued to enjoy living in Seaside until March 2023, when she moved to an assisted living home in Vancouver, Washington.

For more than three decades, Bev loved walking on the Seaside Promenade and visiting with the people she met. She spent many wet Oregon days cross-stitching, and her house is still filled with dozens of beautiful pieces of her work. Her daughter, Vikki, framed many of them, winning several awards at the county fair.

Bev had a lifelong love for all forms of flying, and went up in helicopters, a historic biplane, a glider and a hot air balloon. She claimed to have gone flying with one of the first female aviators in Portland, and always regretted not having the chance to ride in a blimp.

Bev was an avid fan of the Portland Trail Blazers, loved decaf mochas and chocolate and listening to Frank Sinatra.

Beverly was preceded in death by her parents, Victor and Lucille; her husband, Stan; her brother, Richard; and her son, Scott.

She has three grandchildren, Rose (and her husband, Joe), Dory and Cory (and his wife, Stephanie); and three great-grandchildren, Everett, Jordan and Hudson.

A small celebration of Bev’s life will be held in Seaside on May 19.

The family would like to thank Bev’s Seaside friends who visited her and cared for her in her later years, and the outstanding caregivers at the Loving Care Family Home in Vancouver, where she moved to almost exactly a year ago.

Remembrances can be made to the American Heart Association, American Macular Degeneration Foundation, North Coast Land Conservancy or to a favorite charity.

Hughes-Ransom Mortuary was in charge of the arrangements.