Beverly Couch Burns

Bev loved the Lord, was an amazing person, humble, kind, loving, strong, witty, extremely smart, gracious, and very patriotic, to name a few of her wonderful qualities. She was a devoted and loving wife to her dearly departed Jerry, proud and loving mother to Benay, niece, sister, cousin, aunt, sister-in-law, and a dear friend to so many. Bev never met a stranger. She had an extensive support network of friends and family, a testimony to how many people she impacted, and that love her. She will be greatly missed. I met Bev in 1990 when she was hired by CTG in an admin support role for a team developing a custom process control and warehouse management system for Michelin. She was fearless, learning new technologies extremely quickly. I truly believe she could have developed software herself with her logical thinking. She claimed she was not good in math, but definitely was! We did daily word and math puzzles, and she often solved the math puzzle in the fewest number of attempts, earning her the title of Queen for the day. At CTG we quickly became friends and went out to lunch weekly. In 95, we both left CTG but we still met for lunch weekly. In the late 90s, we both returned to CTG. She became the office mom, caring for us all. She took great care of our clients as well, including Michelin, Sony, Calvin Klien, Nissan, and Frito-Lay, to name a few. Being empty-nesters, she and Jerry were busy doing all kinds of fun and interesting things: UCF football games, PGA golf tournaments, Magic basketball games, Disney cruises, performing arts, and always side by side! In 2008, her life was shattered when she lost the love of her life. Even during those dark days, she remained upbeat, positive. She amazed us all with how much she tackled, learned and accomplished, even while continuing to work full time. I know Jerry was so proud of her and was cheering her on. It is then that we became very involved outside of work, along with other colleagues Corrie and Donna. At first we simply had weekly dinners at her place, watched TV, movies and Christian comedy DVDs. She became Nana to my then infant granddaughter Savannah. They adored each other. Sav also came to Nana’s weekly for dinner, play time, and the infamous bathtime. Nana was always sure to have Sav’s favorite foods, plenty of toys, even dragging down a neighbor’s discarded playhouse to her back porch and stocked it with items for her. She will be dearly missed. Once Bev felt comfortable venturing out again, she became our social coordinator. She planned so many fun things for the four of us to enjoy: fun day trips, scenic river and lake boat tours, movies, comedy shows, plays, musical performances, and of course dining! She not only joined Savannah and I but often planned our outings to the zoo, parks, movies, playgrounds, and trips to the farm! She rode rollercoasters with Sav at Legoland, DisneyWorld and SeaWorld! Years later when my grandson Sebastian was born, she would meet us for lunch, coming over to play, go to the zoo and parks. In fact, his first sentence was “Meet Nana, eat pizza!” She will be dearly missed. I don’t believe Bev was a girl scout but she certainly took their “Be Prepared” motto to heart. We would tease her about her preparedness, she always had whatever you might need in her purse, whether it be pens, gum, breath mints, band aids, tide to go pens, hand-sanitizer (even before Covid), snacks for the kids, sunscreen. For our road trips there was always a cooler with waters and snacks! And her memory, my goodness, we relied on her for that too. She put us all to shame. She could remember all kinds of dates and details that we would forget. As time passed, like a magnet, she attracted so many new wonderful, kind, loving friends into her life. I thank God for the gift of Beverly in my life and I know so many others do too: her loving family, neighbors that gather on her drive for rocket launches and always there to assist her, retired CTG friends she lunched with monthly, 321 Brevard dining group, her personal trainer, car services both in Texas and Florida, theater performers and musicians, wait staff, restaurant managers and owners. She was special to them all. She will be dearly missed. For years, Donna, Bev, and I have frequented El Chico’s for our weekly Mexican-fix. Jim and Benay joined on occasion when they were in town. Last week we went on our usual Monday, and both our primary server Megan, and the kitchen manager Marcia were both deeply saddened to hear of her passing and said how much they loved her. On Thursday, the retired CTG group met there in her honor and Nancy, the lovely longstanding hostess provided them beautiful roses and a sympathy card. Just one small example of the lives she touched. She will be dearly missed. Last week I saw a Life’s Little Instructions list, the typical be kind, polite, thankful. But right in the middle was “become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.” Wow, that was definitely Beverly! She was always bright, cheery, kind, caring, thankful and gracious. She was well known for her enthusiasm, clapping, hooting and holler’in (her famous WOO-HOOs) during rocket launches, rollercoaster rides and live performances (at appropriate times of course). She will be dearly missed. She became much more than just a friend, I was privileged to call her mom, and for her to accept me as her daughter of the heart. Of course, Benay is her favorite, her precious, beautiful, intelligent, witty, accomplished daughter; her baby, her pride and joy. Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It is with great confidence that I know where Bev is today, with her loving heavenly Father, and Jerry. Hallelujah and WOO-HOO. Because I knew her, I’ve been changed for the better. Because I knew her, I have been changed for good. Love you Bev! You are dearly missed!