ORREN BEATY, JR. (Major US Air Force - World War II and Korea)  

13 June 1919 - 19 June 2005

Top Aide at the Interior Department Orren Beaty Jr., 85, a native of Clayton, NM, died January 19, 2005 at a nursing facility for Alzheimer's patients in Las Cruces, NM. Mr. Beaty was a graduate of NMSU and the University of Houston, and worked as a reporter and political columnist for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, AZ. He later moved to Washington, DC to serve as administrative assistant for then U.S. Representative Stewart L. Udall. Five years later, he transferred to the Interior Department where he served as Chief-of-Staff to Udall. Speaking from Santa Fe, Secretary Udall said ”Orren was my right-handman for all of those years and he helped administer a Department that had 17 different agencies and 55,000 employees. He was a superb executive. He helped formulate conservation policies and in the 1960's, won the affection and respect of top officials in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. In 1967, President Lyndon B.Johnson appointed Mr. Beaty federal co-chairman of the Four Corners Regional Commission to work with the governors of the four southwestern states to promote economic development. He later served as associate editor for Congressional Quarterly in Washington. In 1970, Orren Beatty was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Arizona. His personal aide during that campaign was current U.S. Representative Tom Udall, a recent graduate of Prescott College in Arizona. Orren also served as the western states coordinator in the unsuccessful Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. Edmund S. Muskie of Maine. In the mid-70's, he was President and Executive Director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers in Washington. From 1976 until his retirement in 1988, he was involved in the development of energy sources for rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities as assistant general manager of Western Fuels Association, Inc. Orren Beaty was an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II, serving as a radar navigator instructor for crews of the B-29 Bomber. He also served with the Air Force during the Korean War. Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Mary Ethel Turner Beaty of Las Cruces; three children: Dr. Orren Beaty Ill of Asheville, NC, Laura Beaty of McLean and Susana Michael of Tucson, a sister, and five grandchildren.

He is buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Dr. Marvin Daniel Monaghan

March 14, 1926 - April 5, 2006

                Dr. Dan Monaghan died Wednesday (April 5) at age 80. He was born in Wichita Falls, TX, March 14, 1926, son of Marvin Gaines and Lillian Adair Monaghan. His father had a 45-year career with the Burlington Railroad, rising from clerk to be general manager of all Burlington Texas lines. Dan graduated from Wichita Falls High School in 1942 and the University of Texas in 1948, and earned a Doctor of Optometry Degree from Northern Illinois College of Optometry in 1950. He practiced optometry in Garland for 50 years before retiring in 2002. Dan was a radio and radar electronics specialist in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and after the war ended in 1945 he was in a military band at Pearl Harbor where he also led a 16-piece dance band. He played woodwind instruments in the Wichita Falls Symphony and the Amarillo Philharmonic. Early in the 2000s he led a "big band" playing for senior dances. Dan was married for 46 years to the former Ruth Carolyn Rice. Mrs. Monaghan was active in church and civic affairs and managed her husband's office until her death in 1998. They had no children. A railroad man's son, Dan developed a lifelong interest in trains and acquired an encyclopedic knowledge of railroad history, economics and operations. He was a nationally prominent authority on transit and inter-city rail transportation who served twice on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors representing Garland, 1990-93 and 2000-02. He was on DART's Citizens Advisory Committee 1983-90. A tireless advocate of improved rail transportation, he wrote countless articles, commentaries and letters to editors eloquently voicing his views and often verbally jousting with critics. He was technical advisor to a committee that helped bring Amtrak service to Dallas in 1974 with the Inter-American operating St. Louis to Laredo via Dallas-Fort Worth. In 1997 he provided information that helped retain train service when, without warning, Amtrak announced plans to cancel the Texas Eagle. Earlier, Dr. Monaghan played a pivotal role in a successful effort to save Dallas Union Station from demolition and keep it as a rail transportation hub. Dan served on a North Central Expressway task force studying expansion to include mass transit. He was in a Garland study group that in 1980 began advocating rail transit, and in the early 1990s was instrumental in preserving Garland freight rail lines threatened with abandonment. And he helped officials preserve railroad right-of-way in the Denton area for future transit use. Dan held every office in the Southwest Railroad Historical Society and was curator of the Age of Steam Railroad Museum at Fair Park for 22 years. A member of the Garland Landmark Museum Society, he worked to restore an antique passenger train car in a city park. Dan held a lifelong interest in model railroading and owned an extensive model train collection. He belonged to the Burlington Railroad Historical Society, Texas Association of Rail Passengers and National Association of Rail Passengers. Dan also collected and restored vintage automobiles and was a member of the Nash Car Club of America. His only survivors are several cousins, but "Dr. Dan" leaves a legion of friends he influenced through the power of his intellect and the depth of his commitment to the issues to which he was devoted. A private graveside service was to be held in Restland Memorial Park, and a memorial service celebrating Dan's life is to be held later at a time and location to be announced. Memorials may be made to the National Kidney Foundation, Age of Steam Railroad Museum or a charity of choice. Restland 972-238-7111 restlandfuneralhome.com