Her son, Richard Beam of Kannapolis, said his mother didn’t do it for fame or fortune
or any of the things that drive some people these days. ‘‘I don’t know what inspired
my mother to do this,’’ said Beam. She just decided she wanted to, and once she
started a project like that, she finished it.
It took her 20 months, from Dec.
24, 1983, to Aug. 22, 1985.
‘‘I don’t know how
many hours a day she worked on it,’’ Richard Beam said, but she often took the
spiral notebook she was working on with her.
When complete, the copied King
James Bible filled 11 notebooks completely and part of a 12th. Richard Beam said his
mother started copying the Bible a second time, in her perfect left-handed writing, but
didn’t complete that version.
‘‘I wouldn’t want
to attempt to do it,’’ Beam said. ‘‘Probably not too many people ever
attempted something like this. Not many people ever even read the Bible.’’
Gracie Mae Beam lived in
Kannapolis for about 70 of her 87 years and was a homemaker. She moved to Millers Creek,
which is near North Wilkesboro, to live with her daughter, Mary Jane Royal, for the last
years of her life. While living there, she started the Bible-copying project. Richard Beam
said his sister will keep their mother’s handcrafted Bible.
He said three others from his
mother’s church supposedly started copying the Bible at the same time, but he never
heard if any of those completed it.
‘‘Mother loved to
write,’’ he said. ‘‘She copied all kinds of poems and sent them to
people.’’
She wrote to ministers, friends
and family. Beam said one of the last letters he got from his mother talked about dying,
and he knew her heart was in the right place and had been for years. ‘‘It
didn’t hurt quite as bad when she passed on,’’ he said.
Beam said his mother loved
traveling to hear a minister from West Virginia named R.A. West preach. ‘‘She
thought the world of him,’’ Beam said, and she was often the last one to leave
West’s revivals.
West officiated at her funeral in
Kannapolis, along with the Rev. Jerry Snipes.
Beam said his mother never showed
off the Bible she copied and only her family and a few others even knew she did it. He
said it wasn’t something she did for any glory, but more as a hobby and a way to
study the Bible.
Beam, who’s close to 65 and
retired 10 years ago, said he believes some good can come from people hearing about his
mom’s endeavor. With problems in the world like the recent school shootings, and
President Clinton’s immoral behavior, Beam said people who read about his mom might
also turn to doing something good.
Besides her Bible work, Beam said
his mom also enjoyed crocheting. Beam himself tries to get people interested in the
Kannapolis coin collecting club that he runs.
When his mother finally completed
her Bible, she penned these words that appear along with the last lines of Revelation:
Aug. 22, 1985 – 12:32 a.m. I
know I will miss it. It has been with me night and day for 20 months – 1 year, 8
months. Wherever I visited for a time, it went with me. Thank God for letting me copy the
Bible. Gracie M. Beam. |
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