Published: December 30, 2007 11:01 pm      

ORLEANS COUNTY: Local legislator says goodbye after 12 years

Jack Beedon may be retiring from the Orleans County Legislature after 12 years of service, but he isn’t about to slow down any time soon.

A constant family man, he will be splitting his time between a home in Florida and a cottage on Lake Ontario with his wife of 42 years, Janice. There are five married children to visit, nine grandchildren to spoil, fundraisers to run, boards to serve on and volunteer work with the Office for the Aging. He is also a 30 year member of the Medina Lions Club and an active member of Hartland Bible Church.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed being a legislator,” Beedon said in a phone interview from his townhouse in Valrico, Fla. Friday. “I enjoyed dealing with people — people who had issues and concerns.”

A 1961 graduate of Medina High School, Beedon married his longtime sweetheart, Janice Snell of Jeddo, his senior year at Northern Illinois University. He earned a bachelor’s of science in education and they settled in Illinois briefly before returning to their hometown in 1967.

“I had the best grade point average I ever had when I got married,” Beedon joked.

Upon the couple’s return, Beedon found his niche as a 6th grade reading, math and social studies teacher at Gasport Elementary, where he remained for the next 33 years until his retirement in 1997.

Their first son, Hobie, was born in November 1967, followed by Kent and Bethany. Their son, Jason, was born during the infamous Blizzard of 1977. Beedon said his wife was overdue and he had to shovel the driveway at their country home in Gasport every day. After that, they decided to move their caravan to a spacious 12 room house in the Village of Medina.

The birth of youngest child Rebecca in 1984 completed the family unit, Beedon said.

Throughout this time, he served as the commissioner of the Medina Mini League. When the National Guard abandoned the armory in Medina, he became an original member of the Armory Action Committee intent on saving it from use as a jail in the mid-1970s.

It eventually became the Lake Plains YMCA, a board he will continue to serve on after he steps down as legislator. He will also continue to serve on the United Way board, a charitable organization he became involved with through friend, and later, fellow legislator, David Callard.

As a resident, he will continue to sit on the County Department of Mental Health board and sub-committees.

“I’m still going to stay on. I believe in those,” Beedon said. “Those are good organizations to be involved in.”

On top of his growing obligations, Beedon became an avid runner, eventually entering 16 marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 1983. His running buddies, many of them teachers and friends from Medina and Royalton-Hartland, kept him going, he said, calling runners “a breed unto themselves.”

“I realized I wasn’t in good shape. One block led to two blocks, half a mile, a mile,” Beedon said. “I used to really enjoy it. I was almost a fanatic at it.”

In 1985, Beedon ran for the Medina School Board and won. There, he served for 10 years, honing the skills he would later use on the Orleans County Legislature. Granted, the budget was significantly smaller.

“I think there’s a greater appreciation for education in Orleans County,” Beedon said. “I think the best thing we ever did was move to Medina. It allowed me to be a member of the school board; it allowed me to serve on the Legislature. … We have only good memories of the Medina schools.”

Beedon stepped down from the school board at the end of his term ready to serve in government. He ran for the district 2 seat on the Orleans County Legislature against incumbent Homer Phillips and took office Jan. 1, 1996.

It was the first and last time Beedon ran opposed as legislator. Not surprisingly, his replacement, Lynne Johnson, an accountant and mother from Lyndonville, also ran unopposed in the November election.

“(My wife) was my campaign manager when I ran for the legislature for the first time,” Beedon said, adding, “When she asks me to do something, I jump right to it.”

After retiring from Gasport Elementary, Beedon took a job with the Iroquois Job Corps in Shelby, becoming the principal of their education program. Though it was an emotionally difficult job, he stayed on until April 2005.

“We took great pride in watching students get their GEDs. These were kids from New York City and inner cities,” Beedon said. “Just the excitement of seeing a student who never really dreamed they could get a diploma, all of a sudden getting it. They were so thankful someone took the time. It’s one of the more rewarding things I’ve ever done.”

As a legislator, Beedon calls the recent nursing home and County Animal Control Shelter projects his biggest, collective accomplishments.

He has no regrets over the $10 million cost of the addition on the newly named Villages of Orleans, he said.

“We realized that $10 million was going to do more for the facility than $8 million,” Beedon said. “It’s a beautiful facility. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind being a resident there.”

The animal control facility acquired in 2006 was the fastest Beedon has ever seen government move on an idea and a project, he said. Until the legislature took action, the shelter was an old barn in the Town of Barre. A former grooming business for dogs on Route 31 in Albion turned out to be the perfect location.

Serving in the public eye is no easy task, and Beedon has been able to face criticism with a grain of salt, maintaining his optimism and motivation to continue with the necessary work of running the county.

His philosophy has always been one of perseverance, he said.

“There are always issues to face and disappointments, but you move on, do what you have to do and face the next issue,” Beedon said. “I guess you just have to be willing to serve. The rest takes care of itself.”

Contact reporter Nicole Colemanat 798-1400, ext. 2227.