Thelma Edith (Eastham) Corley, My Mother

Thelma Edith (Eastham) Corley, of Huntington, quietly passed away on Wednesday, January 29, 2014. Known since childhood as “Tinker”, she was a loving mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, and will be greatly missed. She was born February 3, 1928 in Logan County, West Virginia, to Clyde Herbert Eastham and Mary Dorcas Forbes, the fifth child in the family. Thelma was preceded in death by sisters Olive Garrett and Lucille Barker, and brothers Edward, Okey, and infant Carlton Eastham. She is survived by sisters Velma (William) McClung and Mildred (Pete) Trippett, and brothers Malcolm (Debbie), Clyde Robert, Harold (Paula), and Jerry Eastham.

Thelma lived for many years in southern California where she raised her family; they moved to Hood River, Oregon, when her husband, the late Egbert “Ted” Corley, retired.  She was a long time member and employee of the Hood River Assembly of God Church. Gardening was a favored activity and she enjoyed many summer afternoons sitting in her garden among her beautiful flowers. She loved her numerous “Road Trips” throughout her life with her family and friends, and always began every trip with prayer and a verse from On the Road Again.



"Tinker" on the right with baby brother Carlton.



Her three children with husband Gordon Wakefield Beaman (deceased) are: Judith Scott of Portland, Oregon; Lynn Walker (Bill) of Huntington, West Virginia; and Marc Beaman (Janet) of Hilton Head, South Carolina. She is a loving and proud “Gram” to her five grandchildren, Kim and Rick Searcy, Jamaal Scott, Lisa Muto (Marc), and Marcus Beaman (Holly) and four step-grandchildren, Joshu Becken, Michael (Jodi) and Mac (Rachel) Walker, and Sara (Odo) vonWulffen.

Her fourteen great-grandchildren, to whom she is “Gram” or “Great”, are:  Brynn and Ian Searcy; Lindsay, Wyatt, Charlie, and Ella Beaman; Riley and Ryan Muto; Kolbey and Jamison Walker; Kylie Seaton; and Max, Nikolaus and Juliana vonWulffen.

  A Memorial Service was held on Sunday, February 2, at  Beard Mortuary with her cousin Ronald Eastham officiating.  

To Mingo We Come Creeping

To Mingo We Come Creeping

The Redneck War on Blair Mountain

On a hot summer day in 1921 Clyde Herbert Eastham kissed his young wife and children goodbye and marched out the door of his cramped coal camp cabin to join thousands of other West Virginia miners in a strike that had the attention of the entire country. All day the men walked, bound together by a common cause. “Every drop of blood and every dollar of the union will be spent in the attempt to lift martial law in Mingo County”, swore Frank Keeney, district president of United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).1 The rag-tag miners’ army swelled to as many as 15,000 men as they marched on, spread eight miles along Lens Creek, ready to march through Logan to Mingo County and avenge the death of Sid Hatfield.2