“Wyoming’s Padre”

Commemorating the Life of St. Mary’s Father Carl Beavers

By Will Carpenter Wyoming Tribune Eagle   –  February 2022

 

Four Wyoming residents have published a book commemorating the life of Catholic Priest Carl Beavers, who spent many years at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Cheyenne.

“Wyoming’s Padre: A Cowboy Catholic Preist” was self-published by Julie Kling, Mary Kay Turner, and Sharon Marx of Jackson; as well as Sheryl Laine of Cheyenne in July, a year after Beavers’ death. It is available for order on Amazon in either print or e-book edition.

The project was a group effort, with each contributor focusing on a different step in the publishing process. However, they each shared the load of writing and editing the book to some degree.

Turner, who wrote a good portion of the book, was the first to realize that Beavers’ story needed to be told after she gathered a written collection of his prayers.

“It took them five years to get the prayers to me, then I realized they’re more than just prayers,” Turner said. “They’re his reflections. It was a story. So we decided to write a book about him.”

“Wyoming’s Padre” is essentially divided into three different sources of text. The original idea for the book was to compile all of Father Beavers’ personal writings that he had been working on and accumulating until his sudden death in 2020.

To round out the book, the team began to interject their own experiences with Beavers and started surveying the state to find those who could attest to his memory. Among some sources in the book are former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson and former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan.

With the book, the team was looking to create something that might preserve the legacy Beavers left behind. He worked across Wyoming, spending many years at Saint Joseph’s Children’s Home in Torrington and 17 years at St. Mary’s Cathedral here in Cheyenne, which the authors believe might be his most enduring legacy.

“People everywhere that we talked to were so willing to share their stories,” Turner said. “We could have had twice as many stories in the book, but it came down to the ones that we thought would be the most reflective of what a Wyoming Padre is.”

Turner and co-author Sharon Marx conducted the majority of interviews for the book. As they went along, Beavers’ legacy as “Wyoming’s Padre” only solidified. They received testimony, some humorous and others poignant, of all the good that he had done.

From speaking at strangers’ funerals across the state and raising a set of orphans at Saint Joseph’s home to his many hunting and fishing trials as a true Wyoming outdoorsman, he was representative of the state’s values.

“The best part of this, too, is that he was a Wyoming hunter and fisherman. He was everything,” Turner said. “He wasn’t just a priest that prayed in church. He was comfortable with ranchers. He was perfect for Wyoming.

“I don’t know if you know how he died, but he was 77 years old, irrigating his field, and he had a heart attack. He never stopped loving Wyoming and working its land.”

The editing process was spearheaded by local Cheyenne writer Sheryl Laine, who the original group of writers reached out to specifically based off her background in editing and self-publishing the autobiographies of unestablished local authors.

In addition to working with her writing group on proofreading and translating Beavers’ handwritten notes for the book, she also had to restructure much of the wiring, making sure that transitions between different sections maintained a clear tone.

She then added in her own section, sharing stories about her experience attending high school with Beavers. Laine’s husband, Gail, even played basketball with Beavers when they were younger. Beavers later prayed for Gail when he received a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis.

Laine had stayed in regular contact with Beavers through the years.

“We were in study hall together, where we argued religion, him being a devout Catholic and my little Protestant self, and when Mr. Milburn wasn’t watching us, we talked,” Laine said. “Even back when he was a sophomore, and I was a freshman, he was already really feeling the call to be a priest.”

It was up to Laine, with help from the others, to capture Beavers’ personality. A tricky task when you have to mold all of the formal and informal experiences and conversations in and around his life into one complete work, but she enjoyed the process nonetheless.

“I was just happy to work on the book with these gals. I loved it,” Laine said. “I was glad to know Carl. It gives you a lift to know somebody good, really good, and he was a good man.”

 

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