University Park Resident Remembered as Master Storyteller

He spent his life as an educator, working with young children at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC) and telling stories.

Yet Joshua M. Beasley's life was cut short Monday night at the age of 37, when he was on the Beltway.

His father, Michael Beasley, remembers him as energetic and lively, two traits that led to his nickname of "Tigger."

"He always had energy," his father said. "Working with kids is what he loved to do."

For 12 years, Joshua taught at SEEC, helping young children learn about art, music, history and more. But it wasn't just his lessons that are remembered, but his passion for teaching.

Michael Beasley said in one instance that his son took a kindergarten class to the National Gallery of Art on a field trip, where they ran into famous British art historian Simon Schama.

"Schama apparently was astounded with how the 5-year-olds could tell him in great detail about the pictures and stories behind them," Michael Beasley said.

Joshua, who graduated from in 1991, received his bachelor's degree in English from University of Maryland and went onto receive his master's in educational studies from Johns Hopkins University. His family had moved to University Park in 1987.

After graduation, he worked at the Natural History Museum and with children in the burn and cancer units at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., before starting with SEEC. He also spent time at Oxford University doing similar work.

"He considered himself a storyteller," Michael Beasley said. "He sometimes adopted classic stories for children."

Last year, Joshua wrote a version of the old English epic poem, Beowulf, for children.

His father said he'd sometime ask musicians to come in and perform music along with his stories and would develop music to accompany the stories he was telling. Joshua was also a sketch artist who tried to use his talents to inspire his students' creativity. He also recently began training University of Maryland students who hope to be teachers.

In an email to the University Park listserv, resident Laura Sonjara wrote about Beasley's passion for teaching — something she saw firsthand because he taught her daughter after school.

"He had created a world class aftercare curriculum for the kindergartners, pairing lessons on famous manuscripts around the world with their classroom lessons on learning to print," Sonjara wrote.

"You probably have an image of some out-of-touch intellectual teaching over the heads of the kids. But the kids got it! And, they adored him. Imagine instead a gentle soul in camel-colored corduroy with Tigger ears poking out from under a cap he always wore."

Joshua Beasley not only leaves behind a class of adoring kindergarteners, but his parents, Michael and Ann, and his brother, Andrew, 29.

His funeral will be a private family affair.