Alumni couple’s legacy of advocating for people with developmental disabilities lives on

Ohio University graduates Robert and Eloise Beverage are pictured with their three children, (from left) Marjorie, Nancy and Bob, in this family photo circa 1963. The Robert and Eloise Beverage Scholarship honors the couple’s legacy of advocating for individuals with developmental disabilities while providing support to the individuals dedicated to teaching them.

When the eldest daughter of Robert, BSIE ’50, and Eloise Beverage, ELST ’50, was diagnosed with developmental disabilities, the couple immediately got to work – helping to lay the foundation for their child, her peers and future generations of children to lead fulfilling lives.

“They banded together with other parents to try and make a difference for their child, for other children and for the children that would follow,” Bob Beverage said of his parents.

The couple met in a Sunday school class for singles in 1949 while they were students at Ohio University. Robert, a native of Athens who served as a B-29 radio operator in World War II, enrolled at the University under the G.I. Bill, studying industrial engineering. Eloise, originally from Kenton, Ohio, pursued a degree in elective studies, majoring in social work. A year after graduating in 1950, the couple married. They settled in the Columbus area and had three children, Marjorie, Bob and Nancy Beverage.

Shortly after enrolling Marjorie in kindergarten, the 5-year-old was diagnosed with developmental disabilities, which, in the 1950s, typically resulted in the child being placed in an institution. The Beverages opted to keep Marjorie at home, eventually sending her to the closest school, which was approximately 30 minutes from their home, that offered special education classes.

“We’ve gotten better and better with the social services we have for families,” Bob Beverage said. “There’s all sorts of support in schools now for students with special needs, but virtually none of that existed in the 50s and 60s. It really was on the parents, on the families – and on the community.”

Committed to providing Marjorie and others with a decent quality of life, the Beverages became founding members of the first Arc chapter in Ohio, a community-based organization that advocates for and with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, serving them and their families.

“At the time, [Arc] was a grassroots effort,” Bob Beverage explained. “It was parents getting together not only as a support group among themselves – because they all had kids with development disabilities – but they would get together also to try and, from the grassroots, impact policy, like in schools and institutions.”

Robert, BSIE ’50, and Eloise Beverage, ELST ’50, met in a Sunday school class for singles in 1949 while they were students at Ohio University. They are pictured on the Athens Campus circa 1950.

Believing in the power of education to uplift lives, the Beverages advocated for and helped to organize special education classes in the local schools and developed a deep appreciation for the educators who worked with children with developmental disabilities.

“My mom and dad saw on a daily basis the teachers who were charged with teaching and how difficult that was,” Bob Beverage said. “As my mom would say, it’s one step forward and two or three steps back every day. You think you’re making progress then, well, maybe not. … The people in that field were so dedicated, so loving and so compassionate. It was a miracle.”

Robert Beverage passed away in 1991, and Eloise in 2002. But their lives’ work continues on in their children.

Nancy and Bob Beverage visit with Marjorie, now 67, in the Westerville, Ohio group home she has resided in for more than 30 years. Nancy sits on the boards of both the group home and the foundation that the local Presbyterian church that established the home uses to support the facility’s operations.

“If you had said to the folks in 1950 that Marjorie was going to live to be 67, they would have said, ‘No, the statistics don’t support that,’” Bob Beverage said. “Well, that’s because the people at that time were living in institutions where the care and quality of life were so bad. If you lived to be 50 in an institution, you were ancient. It’s just an indication, to me, how much the care and the social service community have improved. They’re providing better care than they ever have.”

Seeking a lasting way to pay tribute to his parents, Marjorie and his family’s utmost respect and gratitude for the people who work with individuals with developmental disabilities, Bob Beverage established the Robert and Eloise Beverage Scholarship in Ohio University’s Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education. The endowed scholarship, created in partnership with The OHIO Match program, benefits full-time undergraduates who demonstrate financial need, with preference given to students majoring in moderate to intensive needs in special education.

“It honors my folks and my sister, and really it’s an honor to the people who go into that field,” Bob Beverage said of the scholarship. “They’re the ones doing the work. I’m doing the easy part.”

Courtney Moog, BSED ’19, was awarded the Beverage Scholarship for the 2018-19 academic year and is currently pursuing her master’s degree while teaching part time at Athens County’s Trimble High School.

As an OHIO undergraduate, Moog served as treasurer for Student Council for Exceptional Children (SCEC), supporting the mission and beliefs of the group’s parent organization, an international professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted. Moog noted that each semester SCEC would host a fundraiser benefitting individuals with special needs. Among the efforts those fundraisers supported were special education classrooms, sensory rooms and a service dog for a local boy with autism.

The Beverage Scholarship assisted Moog in achieving her goal of helping students with disabilities see and reach their potential.

“The money I received from the scholarship I put toward my tests and study materials for my OAEs (Ohio Assessment for Educators), a series of required tests for educators,” she said. “Having some financial help covering the costs of this helped take some of the stress off the test and allowed me to focus on studying.”

For Bob Beverage, assisting aspiring special education teachers contributes to a larger movement to continue building a network of care for the disabled community —a movement his parents devoted much of their lives to. His sister, Marjorie, is receiving a quality of care that was unheard of decades ago, he said.

“Working with individuals who have developmental disabilities is very difficult. There’s a high burn-out quotient, and I hope students who pursue this career understand that aspect of the field,” Bob Beverage said. “But we know that with dedication, good training and mentorship, it can also be an incredibly rewarding vocation. I hope this scholarship can help make a difference in the lives of teachers like Courtney Moog and, ultimately, the special needs people whom they serve … like my sister, Marjorie.”

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