Bev McGlasson lived life at full speed and with sheer delight.
“She had a great laugh,” said her husband, Kevin McGlasson, 56. “You could walk into a room full of people, hear that laugh and you would know it was Bev. She was high-strung and opinionated, and she didn’t ever have any problem telling you exactly what she thought. But man, she could just light up a room.
“It was like she was going 100 miles an hour and she was bringing everybody along with her.”
Mrs. McGlasson died Sept. 9 at age 56 of complications from breast cancer. She worked as a hairdresser for more than 30 years.
Adopted as a young child, she grew up in Arnold and graduated from Fox High School in 1979.
“She went through the CEO program, where she did training half a day,” Kevin said. “Then after high school, she went right into cosmetology school and became a hairdresser.”
After a brief early marriage that produced one daughter, the young divorced mom met Kevin McGlasson in 1983.
“We met through her cousin, Tina, who I worked with,” Kevin said. “Tina called one night and said she was going out with some friends and did I want to go? We met on the Landing and Bev and I danced the night away and ended up going out for breakfast.”
The couple dated for a time, but broke up after they were involved in an accident in Kevin’s Jeep CJ-7 one snowy night.
“She said she couldn’t date me anymore after I tried to kill her,” he said with a laugh.
The two went their separate ways; he eventually got married and she remarried and had a second daughter.
“She worked days at General Dynamics, then would come home and do hair in a little shop they had set up in the basement of their home,” Kevin said. “Her second husband was the best friend of one of my cousins. We would meet at family functions, and Bev and I would sit and just talk and talk for hours.
“Her husband and my wife would always be jealous.”
Eventually both were divorced, and Kevin gave his former girlfriend a call one day.
“I said, ‘Remember me? Want to go out on a date?’ and then I said, ‘But I have to tell you, I have another Jeep.’”
She must have been reassured, because the two were married in 2001.
They enjoyed camping and boating, and loved the outdoors.
“Our church was being out in nature, seeing all of God’s wonders, seeing the beautiful colors in the fall,” Kevin said. “Bev wasn’t religious, but she was very spiritual.”
Mrs. McGlasson was generous and compassionate.
“Her clients were mostly older people, and she knew they couldn’t afford to go to the higher-end shops,” Kevin said. “She wouldn't charge them full prices most of the time. She would rent space, pay a weekly rate, so she didn't have to charge a set fee.
“She was always more worried about other people than about herself.”
Many local teenagers found their way to the McGlasson household in time of need.
“Kids who went to school with her kids at Fox, who were facing bad circumstances at home, she’d take them in and let them live there,” Kevin said. “Even when she couldn't afford it, she opened her home and took care of them.”
A group of her “kids” recently gathered at the McGlasson home for a reunion.
“Bev was all worried about what she was going to make, but they told her, ‘No; you don't have to lift a finger,’” Kevin said. “They were all so grateful for what she had done for them, helping them straighten their lives out.”
Mrs. McGlasson was generally healthy until last spring, when she went to the doctor about what she thought was a bladder infection. Routine screening found a lump in her breast, and a biopsy showed it was a malignant tumor.
“We met with the surgeon, and they said they wanted to do chemo or radiation to shrink the tumor before they took it out,” Kevin said. “But first they would do a bone scan and a CAT scan.”
The results from the scans showed the cancer had already spread to her lungs and liver.
“They gave her six to nine months,” Kevin said. “They said chemo and radiation might extend her life by a few months, but that was all.
“She didn't want it. I told her I’d love to have her here as long as possible, but that whatever she chose, I'd be right behind her.”
She chose to forego the treatment, and the couple headed off to Florida to visit family.
“Her daughter had just bought a new house, and she wanted to see it,” Kevin said. “So we packed up and went for 10 days. We were planning a trip to Yellowstone when the weather got cooler, but their six-to-nine months ended up being just 10 weeks.”
Kevin said his wife will be best remembered for her capacity to enjoy life.
“She always told everybody, ‘Always remember to tell people I love you, because you never know when the last time will be that you can tell them that.’
“You never knew what would come out of her mouth,” he said. “But she opened my eyes to a lot of things and put a lot of color into my life.
“Whether I admit it or not, she always put a smile on my face.”