Posted by Terry White on November 22, 2006 | No Comments
The Lebanon (PA) Daily News today carried this feature article about the architect who is a member of the New Beginnings Grace Brethren Church (Keith Shearer, pastor) in Myerstown, and the building he designed for that congregation.
Architect’s career well-built
By STEVE SNYDER
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News
At an age when most people are several years into retirement, Bob Beers is still flying, in every way possible.
A fit and energetic 70 years old, Beers still handles a busy business schedule, working on architectural projects in State College, Hershey, Cornwall and Myerstown.
On weekends, he flies his private plane from Lancaster Airport to a spacious shore home he designed in North Bethany Beach, Del.
Beers takes pride in his health, which he maintains by playing tennis and golf and riding a bicycle.
“I could go back to high school and feel pretty good,” Beers said with a chuckle, “but I’d probably be sore the next day.”
A football, basketball and baseball player at Lewistown High School, Beers was president of the Class of 1956.
A day after graduating, he married Elaine Gutshall in Lewistown’s First Methodist Church. The couple have three children and six grandchildren, one of whom, Claire Behney, is a member of Lebanon Valley College’s powerhouse field hockey team. All three children live nearby: Kimbra Behney is a nurse for the Elco School District; Sharon Patches works in the admissions department at Good Samaritan Hospital; and their son, Jon, is an engineer and public-works director for the City of Lebanon.
Beers’ architectural career and connection to Lebanon County formally began in 1956, when he accepted a draftsman position with Haak and Kaufman in Myerstown, although his first experience with architecture actually began a little earlier.
As a high-school junior, Beers met renowned architect John Haughwout, who, at the time, was working in Lewistown. Haughwout, who later became a prominent architect in Pittsburgh, invited Beers to his office and soon became the first student selected for Lewistown’s work co-op program.
During that time, Beers designed a house and entered it in Ford Motor Co.’s Industrial Arts Award Program, which earned him a certificate of merit signed by Henry Ford II.
“I never hesitated,” Beers said of his decision to pursue architecture as a career. “I never said, ‘What if?’”
Fifty years ago, architects often learned their trade through on-the-job training, a long and challenging process.
“That was a very common way for someone to get their registration,” said Beers’ business partner, Bob Hoffman. “You had to work with a registered architect for 10 years and then take an examination. The examination was very challenging, lasting 32 hours over four days, when he got his registration. It’s not an easy thing.”
In 1973, Beers became a registered architect and partner in the Myerstown firm, which changed its name to Haak, Kaufman, Reese & Beers. A couple years later, two of the partners died, leaving Beers and Jim Reese together. They continued their partnership nine years until each founded his own firm in 1982.
Beers set up his office in Lancaster and opened a Lebanon branch in 1996 when Hoffman came on board. The firm’s name was changed to Beers & Hoffman in 2002.
The two had almost joined forces three decades earlier, right after Hoffman graduated from Yale.
“I knew Bob when he graduated,” Beers said. “I missed him by a couple of days.”
“He tendered an offer,” Hoffman said, “but I had already made other commitments.”
Beers spends about 90 percent of his time in Lancaster, and Hoffman follows a similar schedule in Lebanon.
“It definitely is a team,” Hoffman said. “We do it both ways. I have a large number of projects that are mine, and he has his projects, but we still collaborate. It’s a good cross-pollination. With a fax, a phone and e-mail, it’s easy to communicate.”
Beers, who like Hoffman has a keen sense of humor, said Hoffman’s heavy community involvement in Lebanon “is why I’m still working. He’s so busy with his charitable endeavors.”
When Beers lived in Myerstown, he served on the borough’s Zoning Hearing Board and Planning Commission. The family later moved to Spring Hill Acres near Cornwall before Bob and Elaine built a stunning 3,700-square-foot brick and stucco home in Lititz in 1998.
One connection Beers has maintained to Myerstown is his warm relationship with the Evangelical School of Theology.
“He was the architect for our library in 1969 and our apartments in the late 1980s,” the school’s president, Dennis Hollinger, said. “He also handled the renovation of the major building on our campus, Christ Hall. He’s been very, very significant in shaping the look of our campus.”
Hollinger said Beers’ work on Christ Hall, which was completed in May 2005, is little short of amazing.
“People really rave about the transformation,” Hollinger said. “In honor of his work with us, we named the student center in honor of him.”
Among Beers’ other major projects in Lebanon County are Cornwall Manor and several churches in Myerstown, including Grace Brethren. Beers is still a member at Grace Brethren, where he taught Sunday school for many years and was a member of the church board. He also was a member at Myerstown United Church of Christ and a member of its board.
“It’s an important part of my life,” Beers said of his faith. “You’re always being led by Christ in all your decisions.”
Beers dedicated his business to Christ in 1982.
Beers has designed more than 300 churches during his 50-year career, including Calvary Church, which he attends. Calvary’s complex north of Lancaster includes a 2,600-seat sanctuary, a 1,000-seat fellowship hall and a 350-seat chapel, along with a gymnasium, classrooms, library, music suites, offices, kitchen and courtyard.
The Beers & Hoffman Lebanon County project list includes the Lebanon Valley Expo Center, Philhaven trauma center, Good Samaritan Hospital’s expansion/ renovation, Ebersole auto dealership, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Cedar Haven, Harpel’s, the Lebanon municipal building expansion, Lebanon Country Club, the Lebanon Federal Credit Union, Annville Family Practice and Fredericksburg Library.
Current projects include the new Lebanon Market House, Christman Memory Support Center at Spang Crest and renovations at four Lebanon School District buildings.
“In this business, most projects are long,” Hoffman said. “Schools often take three years. Churches are very long projects. Fund-raising can take two to three years, and then the actual work makes the total four to five years or more. You get to know your clients very well, almost like a second family.”
Beers’ current projects include St. Paul’s United Methodist Church and Brookline Manor retirement community in State College, Cornwall Manor’s expansion, Lebanon Valley Brethren Home, a private eye doctor’s office in Myerstown, and a restoration of Milton Hershey’s homestead in Hershey.
“That’s a small but exciting project,” Beers said of the Hershey homestead. “It’s being done in two phases. We did the exterior and are now working on the interior.”
Only one profession ever tempted Beers to leave architecture.
“It would have been nice to be a pilot,” said Beers, who first flew a plane when he was 17.
His father, Carl, was an instructor of ROTC pilots from Penn State at Bellefonte airport.
“I gave that up,” Beers said of his flying career, “then I took it up again 20 years ago. I try to fly every week.”
In addition to his flights to his shore home, Beers makes business trips to State College, Altoona and Johnstown. He also flies to Penn State football games.
“It beats the traffic,” Beers said with a grin. “I can get to State College in 35 minutes. The airport is three miles from Penn State’s campus, and they have shuttles.”
With his full-speed-ahead lifestyle, sitting in traffic just wouldn’t work.
Jay and Deb Hocking, who concluded their year of service at the Chateau in France by hiking the entire St. James Way across France and Spain, have completed the walk and are now back in Indiana. Here is a quick summary report and a note about their future plans:
