Anne Beer

Anne Marie Johnson Beer passed away Friday, March 9, 2018 at the age of 62.

Marie was born December 14, 1955 in San Francisco, CA to Bobby and Lottie Johnson. She grew up with sisters Norma Jo and Tammy Lynn. Her nickname became Ree because when Tammy was little, she had a speech impediment and couldn’t say m’s or s’s. She couldn’t say Marie; it came out Ree, and it just stuck.
Marie graduated from Bryan High School in 1975 and joined the US Army. She completed several trade schools and some college. She married Stephen Brian Beer in St Augustine, Florida on May 5, 2001 at Faulkner’s Museum Courtyard. They married on the bridge over the pond, and it was amazing. Even though they only had about 17 people in attendance, there were lots of people in the courtyard. After the ceremony, total strangers came up to congratulate them, shaking our hands and hugging us. Afterwards, the reception was at a terrific Colombian-Italian Restaurant that even took the time to decorate the plates used to serve the cake. Unfortunately, they were not compatible and Stephen moved back to Florida May 15, 2007. The divorce was final July 26, 2007.

Marie’s taste in music was varied, including: classical, opera, Gregorian Chants, and rock & roll. She loved to read murder mysteries and two of her TV favorite shows were Murder She Wrote, and Perry Mason. She inherited her mother’s love of bacon and fried potato sandwiches, which she enjoyed while watching Perry Mason. She enjoyed going to plays and concerts. Her favorite Disney movie was Sleeping Beauty and she loved Maleficent. Marie enjoyed Cross Stitch and made some beautiful Cross Stitch pictures. She also liked to crochet. For new parents, she always crocheted a baby blanket, and had a Cross Stitch picture about colors that she made for the nursery.

She was quick witted and could be very funny. Marie enjoyed playing cards and games and loved to travel. She was not an outdoors person, and didn’t like camping, fishing, or outdoor activities. She enjoyed shopping, and eating out, but she was fine with staying home and watching TV. She was well respected and liked. She’d always go the extra mile for her friends and was intensely loyal and true to them.
Marie loved lemons, “God’s favorite fruit”, and taught her nephew Casey to love them too. She always kept a bottle of lemon juice in the frig and would go in for little “squirts”. When Casey was very little, he would follow her to the frig, watch her take a “squirt” and say “some, some” till she would have him open his mouth and she would give him a little “squirt”. He would screw his face up and say more. So that’s how she passed on the lemon love. This led to fights over the lemon slices in the tea whenever they went to restaurants to eat. She loved to have Casey and Andrea in the kitchen with her to teach them how to cook, whatever she was making. She liked to cook and at one time thought of becoming a chef. She enjoyed trying to recreate dishes that she tried and was often successful. Marie always said she liked to think she was a better cook than she was.

Marie was saved and was a Sunday school teacher for junior high kids for a time. When she decided to stop teaching, the kids were upset and told her that no one had ever made the Bible seem real to their lives before. That was one of the best moments in her life. She liked to teach, anything, and she really excelled at it. In various assignments of her work she would end up teaching groups the new software and applications. Sometimes the company would have her travel in and out of state to other offices teaching the applications. She was highly intelligent, learned quickly and retained the knowledge which made it easy for her to be able to teach others. She worked at Twin City Mission, and then went to work for TAMU for a time. She then went to work for and retired from Exxon, Exxon Mobil after 28 years. She was in engineering and took care of Nigeria, Chad and Deep Water Projects.
Marie had a cat name Mandy, and she taught Mandy to carry on a conversation with you. You might not know all that Mandy was saying but she would set and respond to everything you said. Her meows would vary, just like a person talking. Mandy could open doors, screens, and turn off the TV. Whenever Mandy heard the song “Mandy”, she would sit in front of the speakers and cock her head sideways and listen. Marie was so wrapped up in Mandy that she had a really hard time coping when Mandy died. She tended to close off her heart and not allow people and animals in once she was hurt. It was very hard to get her to open up again and allow other love in.

Marie’s favorite colors were lavender and yellow. She liked oriental design, light woods, and clean, sleek lines. She enjoyed small cars and driving fast. She liked dragons, and eagles. She collected gemstones and always wanted to be a gemologist. She wouldn’t have made a good gem dealer because she’d have tried to keep them all and not sell them (yeah, yeah that’s me ß note from Marie). She also likes collecting art glass and crystal. She didn’t have a lot of pieces but what she had were expensive. Champagne taste on a Beer (hee-hee, no pun intended) pocket book.