Peninsula In Passage

In 1948 the Beazleys and their son, Fred, established the foundation. The senior Beazley, Bray says, was very hands-on in its management. In the 1950s he opened the Foundation Boys’ Academy in downtown Portsmouth, and in 1958 established Frederick Military Academy, instilling values and discipline in young men until it closed in 1985. Thomas McLemore, principal of Nansemond River High School, attended the military academy, graduating in 1973. “My mother sent me there from North Carolina to get me straightened out,” he says with a laugh. “Beazley was determined that any young person with the capacity should get a higher education,” Bray says. He built the college on the old Nansemond Ordinance Depot site that he bought from the government. According to an August, 1961, news story in the Ledger-Dispatch and Star, the unique campus had a long pier rebuilt with a couple dozen slips so students could bring their own boats. Other amenities included a pier side recreation center, swimming beaches, a freshwater fishing lake, a faculty club and a pine paneled library and reading room with a fireplace. Married faculty members could live in two to three bedroom cottages renovated from old munitions storage barns and fitted with hardwood floors and electric heat. The campus included a 3000-seat stadium, an infirmary with a full time nurse and doctor on call and a 1000-seat chapel. “It was outstanding that Frederick College could bring together a total college community with sports, activities, fraternities and sororities,” Bray said. “It had the full show.”

Richard Bray

Some 2100 students went through the college in its eight-year history. But much to the shock of the student body who gathered in 1968 expecting to hear news of full accreditation, they heard instead that the college was closing and the campus would be donated to help launch Tidewater Community College. The Beazley Foundation helped students pay the tuition at a new college if they decided to transfer. Beazley died in 1974 at 82 but his philanthropy lives on through the continued work of the Beazley Foundation, especially in education and human services, and the memories of those he helped achieve more from their lives.

Mr. Beazley, present at Fred W. Beazley Portsmouth Campus

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