Dairy farmer shared knowledge with 4-H

9/13/2003

ARLINGTON, Ohio - Jerry Beach, a dairy farmer and president of the Hancock County Dairy Service Unit for more than 20 years, died Thursday in his home near here. He was 65.

He died of complications from a brain tumor and an infection, his wife, Marilyn, said.

Mr. Beach had a passion for helping and teaching in the 4-H dairy programs, Mrs. Beach said. He was president when the dairy service unit decided to auction gallons of milk from cows that won the Junior Fair in Hancock County. Until then, those who raised dairy cows were the only winners who received no money in auctions.

Born in West Leipsic, Ohio, Mr. Beach went to Arlington High School. He started his dairy farm in 1968. He and his wife built a herd of about 80 Brown Swiss cows, which they preferred for their gentle temperaments, Mrs. Beach said.

Mr. Beach also worked for Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in Findlay from 1968 to 1975. In the late 1990s, he welded for his son's company, Innovative Mechanical Solutions, near Arlington. “He had a lot of mechanical ability,” Dan Shoop, a longtime friend, said. “Whatever needed to be done, he could fix.”

He was a member of the state and national Brown Swiss breeders associations, the Hancock County Farm Bureau, and Good Hope Lutheran Church, Mrs. Beach said.

Surviving are his wife, Marilyn; son, Bradley; daughters, Dawn Feller, Amelia Bower, and Nicolette von Stein; sister, Virginia Christoff, and 16 grandchildren.

The body will be in the Crates Funeral Home, Arlington, after 2 p.m. tomorrow Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in Good Hope Lutheran Church, Arlington.

The family suggests tributes to the church or a charity of the donor's choice.