Beatrice Thomas Speckens was born in Chicago on Feb 13, 1926. She came to Arizona in the 1940's, and was a graduate of the University of Arizona at Tucson, majoring in Education. She was a life member of Chi Omega Sorority. Beatrice relocated to Southern CA in the 1950's, and taught Reading and English as a Second Language for more than 30 years; she retired from Fremont Middle School in Oxnard in 1988. Throughout her teaching career she was an advocate for the advancement in education for Hispanic children. Beatrice passed away at her residence in Port Hueneme, CA after a battle with cancer on Apr. 30, 1993.
The 1960's were years of great change: Protests (Vietnam War, Free Speech, Civil Rights), assassinations (JFK, Martin Luther King Jr, Bobby Kennedy), conflict (the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, ...
Discover photos of Arizona over time shared by members of the community.
Arizona became the 48th state to be admitted to the US on February 14, 1912. Before admission, it was known as the Arizona Territory. The capital is Phoenix and the largest population center is the Ph...
I'm a Founder of AncientFaces and support the community answering questions & helping members make connections to the past (thus my official title of Founder & Content and Community Support ). For me, it's been a labor of love for over 20 years. I truly believe with all of my heart that everyone should be remembered for generations to come.
I am 2nd generation San Jose and have seen a lot of changes in the area while growing up. We used to be known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" (because the Valley was covered with orchards and there were many canneries to process the food grown here, which shipped all over the US) - now we have adopted the nickname "Capital of Silicon Valley" and Apple, Ebay, Adobe, Netflix, Facebook, and many more tech companies are within a few miles of my current home in San Jose (including AncientFaces). From a small town of 25,000, we have grown to 1 million plus. And when you add in all of the communities surrounding us (for instance, Saratoga, where I attended high school, living a block from our previous Mayor), we are truly one of the big cities in the US. I am so very proud of my hometown. For more information see Kathy - Founder & Content and Community Director My family began AncientFaces because we believe that unique photos and stories that show who people are/were should be shared with the world.