CSUN University News Clippings

Health sciences alum, Lodi city supervisor Frank Beeler dies at 55

(April 13, 2009)

By Layla Bohm
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Frank Beeler, champion weightlifter, longtime city water supervisor, a man known for both his wit and his athletic feats, died Thursday at 55.

Beeler was a huge man with an immense appreciation for life. He was a doting husband and father, a musician, a man quite proud of his Swiss heritage, and a fellow noted for his love of crossword puzzles and mental challenges.

His death from cancer saddened many in Lodi who knew him as a man of towering strength and vitality.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when we shared the news today,” said Charlie Swimley, the city’s water services manager. “He really cared a lot about his men and you could tell they cared about him.”

Only a few months ago, Beeler was busy working full-time as Lodi’s water and wastewater superintendent.

He was also preparing for an April trip to New Zealand for a world bench press championship, where he would likely try to lift more than 600 pounds.

In-between, he was playing clarinet with his Swiss polka band and spending time with his wife and four children.

Then came word from a doctor: Beeler had cancer. The news got worse: It had spread into his lungs and spine.

On Thursday morning, Beeler succumbed to the illness, exactly nine weeks after his diagnosis.

He left behind countless memories, ranging from nearly 31 years of city service, to his Swiss polka band, to his world record lifting marks.

At a dinner to honor city employees last month, Beeler was honored for his three decades of work. He received a standing ovation.

For all who knew the giant, bearded man, his death came too soon. And they’re wondering what they’ll do without him.

“He performed the work of at least two people,” Public Works Director Wally Sandelin said.

Even as the cancer spread, Beeler worked from home, determined to finish the annual water quality report, Swimley said. Beeler did finish that report, which will be included in citizens’ April bills.

At age 55, Beeler had no plans to retire, but last week he filed paperwork for an emergency retirement, so his family will receive his pension. Three of his children are in college, and the youngest, 13, is in school.

Young people were important to Beeler, who loved helping high school athletes who wanted to lift weights, said Dennis Kaufman, general manager of Twin Arbors Fitness Club. Beeler hammered it into youths that they didn’t need to take drugs to build muscles.

Kaufman knew Beeler for nearly two decades, since the day Beeler came in and offered his services. Kaufman hired him as a part-time trainer, though Beeler wound up doing a lot more on his own time.

“Working at the club, you hear little negative things here and there about people who work in the city, but never once did I hear anything negative about Frank,” he said. “He would go out of his way to help people.”

Beeler was devoted to his family, Kaufman and Swimley both noted, and loved to brag about his children.

But when it came to Beeler himself, he never made a big deal of his accomplishments, even though he broke bench pressing world records five times.

In 2005, he set the world record by pressing 590 pounds. His American record stood at 606 pounds.

Word of the cancer diagnosis spread through the ranks of weight lifters, said Larry Maile, USA Powerlifting president.

“He was everybody’s friend,” Maile said by phone from his home in Anchorage, Alaska. “Well thought of by his teammates and competitors internationally.

“He was a big friendly guy but also a fierce competitor, as evidenced by his performance.”

Kaufman recalled a day when Beeler went into the gym after going to a world championship. He shook Kaufman’s hand, as he always did.

When Kaufman asked about the meet, Beeler said, “It went really well; I met a lot of really nice people.” Kaufman asked how Beeler had done at the meet and he replied, “Well, I did really well.”

Finally, after another question or two, Kaufman learned that Beeler had won.

In the workplace, his title didn’t matter, nor did the titles of others.

When he and part-timer Kathy Grant began to put together a program on watershed education, he fought to keep the program going, she said. Few people understand that water quality is legally regulated, she said, so Grant and Beeler set out to reach students.

A Liberty High School student, on the verge of dropping out, teamed up with a Lodi High student to make the first Storm Drain Detectives Web site. Beeler, “the master wordsmith,” as Grant called him, edited it, and soon the program was running.

Every school in the area now has such a program, with students monitoring the Mokelumne River twice a month. Every May, the students gather all the data and present it to the public. Grant noted quietly that it will be weird next month without Beeler there.

Many people had a hard time figuring out how to sum up Beeler. They noted that he was proud of his Swiss heritage, for forming an opinion and sticking to it, for not always having the cleanest office — though he always knew where to find anything at a moment’s notice.

In January 2006, a News-Sentinel reporter asked Beeler about his New Year’s resolutions, and his answer was easy: He didn’t make them.

“It’s how you finish the year, not how you make promises at the beginning,” he said.

That sounded just like a typical philosophical Beeler line, Sandelin said.

Beeler was known for being a big guy with an equally large smile.

“Now I know why he was so big — so all of us could have a piece of him,” Grant said.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

Publication: Lodi News-Sentinel