Beverly Susan MacCarty

A Special Person

Beverly “Bebe” Susan MacCarty, 56, died November 11, at Danbury Hospital. Born August 12, 1953, in Philadelphia, she was the special daughter of Helen (Blank) and William Gordon MacCarty, now deceased.

Ms MacCarty was a resident of Newtown since 1993, living in the care of her sister, Shirley Belli.

Her family remembered her this week in these words: “Beverly MacCarty’s name has not appeared in a newspaper since her birth announcement. She never ran a business or wrote a book. Like so many handicapped children of the 1950s, she was never afforded an education. So much we take for granted required so much effort on her part. She struggled with simple things like turning on a light or turning her head.

“Yet, everyone who met her felt something special during his or her time with her. These children are angels. Their love is pure. They connect in ways we know are true.

“Bebe loved her cats and they loved her. Cats know things about people. They can feel love, and they can feel peacefulness. She was special, and they knew it.

“She had an excellent sense of humor. She cracked up at slapstick, or funny faces, or pitfalls, or even real falls. She could barely breathe if someone walked funny, even though she knew she did too.

“She took much pride in her beautiful red hair. Though she had many more, she insisted she had but one gray hair. Her skin was soft and her hands were tiny. She knew on some level she was a princess, or maybe even a queen.

“When her parents were alive, they made their lives around her, and they received their payoff in affection and gratitude. Like the love a child gives, it never changed, not at 10 years of age, or 20, or 40. She loved her sister Shirley, and her niece Gina, and her ‘favorite (and only) brother-in-law,’ Tom. She loved the women who helped her, especially Bernadette.

“Beverly Susan MacCarty’s life came and went unheralded by the outside world. This doesn’t make it any less important or noteworthy. We will miss her terribly.

“Some notice mostly the level of care a special child requires. There is that, but far more their life, their presence in our lives, is a blessing.”

Memorial donations may be made to United Cerebral Palsy at www.UPC.org.

The Newtown Bee      December 4, 2009