-ABOUT JONATHAN

 

 

Jonathan Martin Beech, beloved son and brother, lost his valiant four-year battle with brain cancer on March 10, 2007, just eleven days after his fifteenth birthday.

 

Jonathan was a quiet, unassuming boy who greatly loved his family and friends.  He was an outstanding pianist, cellist, singer, and a budding composer.  Academically driven, he earned nine years of straight A’s, and achieved recognition by both the Johns Hopkins University and the Carnegie Mellon University talent searches.  He enjoyed basketball, bicycling, camping, hiking, ping-pong, pool, pinochle, poker, and reading.  We treasured every day that we had with Jonathan.  His untimely death left a gaping hole in our hearts and souls, and we sorely miss him.

 

One day, about a month before he died, Jonathan cried to us, “I’ll never be able to thank everyone for all that they did for me!”  We promised to do this for him, through an annual concert; this promise gave him peace and consolation.  Indeed, he remembered our large thank-you choral concert celebrating the end of his initial treatments — surgery, radiation, chemotherapy — two-and-a-half years before he died.  He sang in that chorus, did a reading, and was aware that we raised $10,000 for our chosen organization, the Make-a-Wish Foundation.  Sadly, his tumor came back, and science couldn’t save him.  But he died with the confidence that Mom, Dad, and younger sibling Eva-Dee would thank every organization that helped him on his very difficult journey.

 

And thus the Annual Jonathan Beech Memorial Concert was born. Please join us in enabling Jonathan, and all other children who have experienced the care and support of these outstanding organizations, to express their thanks!