Sherril Beam Obituary

Sherril Wayne Beam

October 29, 1938 - August 22, 2024

Antelope, California - Sherril Wayne Beam, 85, of Antelope, passed away in the presence of family on August 22, 2024. Sherril was born in Talihina, Oklahoma on October 29, 1938, to Brewer and Isa Beam. His family moved west to California when he was a young child, and the Sacramento area became his boyhood home where he cultivated a love of animals, fishing, fast cars, motorcycles, and a lasting connection to the San Francisco 49ers. The son of an ordained Baptist minister and pastor, he was a "preacher's kid" who was taught the Bible and the fear of God, but his heart from a young age was, above all else, set on being a sailor and seeing the world. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17, and boarded his first ship in 1956 as a Radarman 2nd Class. For the next 22 years the Navy would be his life. He earned his commission as an officer in what was then a new and highly competitive "Seaman to Admiral Program" and graduated with a political science degree from the University of Rhode Island, while at the same time serving as an instructor at the U.S. Naval Destroyer School in Newport.

A combat veteran, Sherril served on destroyers in the Navy throughout the Vietnam War as both a bridge command officer and Chief Engineer. After the war he continued his military service as a Lieutenant Commander on a series of cruises, at one point earning the distinction of the top-rated Chief Engineer in the Atlantic Fleet. He finished his career at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC as the overseeing officer on naval defense technology projects. After retiring from the Navy, he found an outlet for his love of animals and served in the Roseville Police Department for 16 years as an Animal Control Officer, where the poetic prose of his official reports on stray animal antics, escapes, captures and rescues became his trademark.

Sherril was in the truest sense an officer and a gentleman. While emotionally reserved, he always exuded a quiet strength, was calm under pressure, scholarly, and could converse on almost any topic. His sense of humor revealed itself with a dry wit, a well-turned phrase, and careful timing. He quietly loved his family, loved his country, and loved the sea. After all he lived through and accomplished, in his own words he was deep down "just an old salt". He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Roslyn Beam; his brother, Tim Beam; his sister Linda Scheimberg; his children Lisa Cross, Stephen Beam and Alicia Beam; 7 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Memorial service information is to follow.