Cheryl Anne Beal

Cheryl Anne Beal was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 19, 1950, to her parents, Hobart and Ellen Marie Beal (née Baldwin), when they were stationed at Sandia Base and Kirtland Army Airfield. Her father was a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army, who received the Purple Heart for distinguished service in the 142nd U.S Infantry Regiment during World War II. Her mother was in the Women’s Army Core. The name her parents gave to her means “beloved grace,” a name in keeping with her mother’s Christian faith. Cheryl was their second child and second daughter, born after her sister Sandra (b. 1944) and before her brothers Brian (b. 1952) and Darren (b. 1961).

Cheryl spent her childhood years growing up on the Army bases where her father was stationed. Her family was transferred from New Mexico to Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, then Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and finally Fairbanks, Alaska Territory before her father retired from the Army. The family then settled in Minot, North Dakota, where her parents ran three bookstores: The News Arcade, Arcade II (also called The Book Mart), and The House of Books. She later moved with her family to Walla Walla, Washington. As a young adult, Cheryl loved reading, creative writing, and the music of the 1960s, especially the Beatles. She self-published a book that had her poems and those of her brother, Brian, in it. She learned how to play the guitar as well. Cheryl graduated from Walla Walla High School in 1968.

As she grew older, Cheryl became the mother of four children. At age eighteen, she gave birth to her firstborn daughter, Amy Jean Darlington (b. March 19, 1968), whom she placed for adoption. She later married Russell Jack Hughes and gave birth to her firstborn son, Jude Alexander Hughes (b. July 13, 1971). After a divorce, she married Michael Copley, whom she met in 1979 while they were both serving in the U.S. Army in Germany. Together, they became the parents of Bethany Michael Copley (b. March 29, 1980) and Amanda Morgan Afton Copley (b. May 23, 1983). Cheryl was later divorced from her second husband and did not remarry.

From 1978-1980, Cheryl served in the U.S. Army as a Private First Class (E3), after being promoted, twice. Initially, she worked as a 15E Missile Stage Technician, but she was later transferred to administrative work. She returned to the U.S. and was honorably discharged at Ft. Lewis in Pierce County, Washington (due to pregnancy with her third child).

After the birth of her fourth child and then being kept busy primarily with mothering young children, Cheryl returned to school. She received her BA and MA in Anthropology, with an emphasis in Archaeology, from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Her 1991 thesis, “Archaeological Investigations at Waiilatpu,” shared the results of her findings from work she did at the Whitman Mission in Walla Walla, Washington. She was an expert in the ceramics that she studied at this site. She also did considerable archaeological research at Fort Walla Walla in 1984-85 and 1999. She wrote two manuscripts about her findings from excavations at the fort (1984-85) and a third entitled, “A Partial Sampling of the Material Culture of U.S. Fort Walla Walla, 1858-1910” (1999). Her work continues to be cited today in academic research on Fort Walla Walla.

Cheryl worked in her chosen field of Archaeology. She understood archival, conservation, and curation work in the field, with which she was engaged at multiple sites: the Whitman Mission, the San Francisco Maritime Museum, and Fort Walla Walla. Her younger daughters affectionately remember going on digs with her at the Whitman Mission (also known as Waiilatpu) when they were children. She was also a college instructor: she taught courses on Archaeology at Walla Walla Community College, where she included “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” in her syllabus.

Throughout her life, Cheryl enjoyed learning about her family history and genealogy. She painstakingly traced her extensive family tree across the U.S., Canada, and England (including Yorkshire) and discovered her family’s Native American ancestry in the Cherokee tribe long before online services made that a quicker process. As part of her research into the maternal side of her family, she joined the Ontario Genealogical Society. As part of her research into the paternal side of her family, she was invited to join the Central Georgia Genealogical Society, which published one of her family pedigree charts as “Chart 114” in the CGGS Quarterly 4:3 (September 1982), p. 86.

Cheryl’s favorite pastimes included reading popular fiction (especially sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and psychological thrillers), listening to music, and watching movies. She enjoyed smoking and drinking Coca-Cola, and she collected Coca-Cola memorabilia. She especially delighted in her dogs, including her miniature Samoyed, Brittany, and two Black Labradors, Allie and Toby.

Cheryl appreciated a good adventure, not only in books, but in real life. She lived internationally in Japan as a child and Europe as an adult. After a childhood spent in New Mexico, Kentucky, Alaska, North Dakota, and Washington, she lived, studied, or worked as an adult primarily in the western United States: Nevada (with her first husband), Idaho (with her daughters Bethany and Amanda while attending the University of Idaho), and California (with her brother Brian and his family while working at the San Francisco Maritime Museum). Ultimately, she returned to live in her hometown of Walla Walla, Washington with her widowed mother, Ellen, and her brother, Darren. She was deeply grieved when her mother passed away in 1999.

In her early sixties, Cheryl had a series of three strokes, from which she did not fully recover. She was diagnosed with dementia. In 2013, the Superior Court of Washington in Walla Walla County appointed a Legal Guardian for her, and she entered adult care. Her brother Darren visited her frequently until his death in 2016. Later, Sentinel Guardianship Services became her second Legal Guardian. Under their care, Cheryl stayed in assisted living care homes in Walla Walla. In 2023, she moved to Pullman, Washington, where she was closer to her daughter, Amanda, who was able to visit her from Lewiston, Idaho.

After imaging of her lungs showed concerns, Cheryl declined treatment, and she entered hospice care in 2025. Cheryl passed away at the age of 76 at Good Hope Adult Care Hospice in Pullman, Washington on June 3, 2026. Her body was cremated and her ashes will be inurned in the mausoleum at Mountain View Cemetery in Walla Walla, WA, where her parents are buried. Cheryl leaves a legacy as a veteran of the U.S. Army, as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and as an archaeologist who made meaningful contributions to local history in Walla Walla, Washington.

Cheryl is deeply loved and will be sincerely missed. She is survived by her four children Amy, Jude, Bethany (and her husband, Luke), and Amanda (and her husband, Travis); her ten grandchildren Curtis and Tianna (Amy’s children), Ariel and Ashlyn (Jude’s daughters), “Alex” Shawn Alexandria, Erika, Lucia (formerly Jocelyn), and Gray (formerly Kerridwen) (Bethany’s daughters), and Cera and Ryan (Amanda’s children); her eight great-grandchildren Violet Page (Curtis’s daughter), “DJ” Dahlia Jade, Roscoe, and Walter (Tianna’s children), Dorian (Erika’s son), Mikael, Abraham, and Carol Rose (Ariel’s children) as well as her nieces and nephews: her sister Sandy’s son, Erik, and her brother Brian’s children, Jane, James, Anne, and Andrew; Terra, Joshua, Dustin, and Joel; and Erin, David, Isaiah, Anthony, and Glory, and their families. Cheryl was proceeded in death by her parents Hobart and Ellen, her sister Sandy, her brother Darren, and her nephew, Abraham Beal (Brian’s son).

The celebration of Cheryl’s life will be held online so that family living in different states can join together to remember her on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 1:00 PM. Contact Dr. Jane Beal, Cheryl’s niece, at janebeal@gmail.com for an invitation and Zoom link. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).