The Reverend George C. Beacom, 86, of Palmer, died Aug. 31 at home of natural causes.

A service will be held Saturday at 2 p.m., at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Palmer with The Reverend Dean Mandrell and The Reverend Ralph Wagner officiating.

George was born Sept. 17, 1923 in Breckenridge, Texas. He graduated from High School in Marysville, Calif., in 1941 and came to Nome on the first boat with his parents that May, the SS Columbia. When the war came, George enlisted in the Army. They shipped him to the Aleutians where he remained until 1946. After the war, he came back to Nome. He and his mother, Vi opened up a clothing store and called it Vi’s apparel. After his parents moved to Sitka, he ran the clothing store alone. In 1950, George met his wife Edna. In 1951 he and Edna moved to Sitka where both their children were born and again he and his mother opened another Vi’s Apparel. He ran the store until 1966 when he decided he wanted to go into Episcopalian ministry. George moved to California where he attended the Church of Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkley for two years.

In 1970 he began his priesthood in Sitka until 1976 when a priest was needed in the Matanuska Valley. George and Edna moved to Palmer and he became the priest of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. George would also roam around to various other communities throughout the week filling in for other priests.

George retired from St. Bartholomew’s in 1988.

He was active in the community and served as Chairman of the Alaska Day Committee in Sitka, and was a member of the Lions Club. He received Jaycees Man of the Year award in Sitka in 1959 and won several beautification awards in Palmer for gardening and an Ecological Improvement Award in 1992.

George is survived by his wife Edna Beacom, daughter Valerie Beacom and son Kurt Beacom, all of Palmer, grandchildren Aaron and Amanda Miyahira of Wasilla, great-grandchildren Kyle, Kalii and Keith Miyahira, sister Eloise Johnston of Macomb, Mich.

Arrangements are with Kehl’s Palmer Mortuary. www.legacyalaska.com