Family feels 'personal heartbreak' after COVID-19 death of Naperville resident

A friendly and kind soul until his final days, an electrician and musician who loved to make others happy, Arthur Wray Beyer died Sunday in Naperville of the COVID-19 virus. He was 94.

Beyer's life was filled with family and work in downstate Staunton, where he grew up, graduated high school, returned after his time in the Navy during World War II and lived until 2015.

With his three daughters living in Lisle and Schaumburg, Beyer moved to supportive living in the Tabor Hills community in Naperville in 2015 after the death of his wife, Dorothy, in 2011.

In 2019, Beyer moved into the Tabor Hills nursing home, where his daughters say he made fast friends of the staff, kept instruments like trumpets and maracas in his room and always shared stories with visiting musical performers.

Beyer's happy sense of humor endeared him to those who took care of him, said his daughter Cindy Widuch of Lisle, a surgical nurse now working in one of the COVID units at Edward Hospital in Naperville.

"Last week, I asked him, 'How are you feeling, dad?' and he said, 'With my fingers.' He likes to joke with people. He likes to make other people happy," Widuch said. "The staff really responded to that, too. They all seemed to like him a lot."

Tabor Hills staff members earned praise from Beyer's family, despite the nursing home closing to visitors and going into "lockdown" mode in February, said his daughter Jane Westerhold of Schaumburg.

Relatives first noticed Beyer showing symptoms of the new coronavirus April 28, when he sounded congested during phone calls, Westerhold said. On April 29, he was tested for the virus in a hospital emergency department, a test that came back positive. Five days after his symptoms began, he was dead.

But the day before Beyer's death, relatives connected with him for one last phone call.

"When we told him we love him, he said, 'I know that,'" Widuch said. "He had a hard time speaking because he was so congested, but that was crystal clear."

Comforting Beyer's family are memories of the bands he played in from his teens until he was 90; the "Beyer Orchard" he grew next to his large, longtime home in Staunton; his dedication to the jobs he worked as an electrician, a TV and radio repairman, a musical instrument repairman and a real estate agent.

"There's so many losses through this whole COVID, it's just heartbreaking," Westerhold said. "We are just really sad because we lost our dad, but we know so many other people have it so much worse than we do. Ours is personal heartbreak, but there's so many people who have it worse."

Beyer was interred Thursday at Staunton Cemetery in a private ceremony. His relatives, including his sister, three daughters, eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, intend to have a larger memorial gathering at a later date.

The family is requesting memorials be made to Tabor Hills Healthcare Facility SNF, 1347 Crystal Avenue, Naperville, IL 60563, or the Staunton Municipal Band, Local 88, courtesy of Scott Fischer, 805 E. Leonard St., Staunton, IL 62088.