Rhenda Ann Fuqua Beeson

Rhenda Ann Fuqua Beeson passed away on January 29, 2025, in Hermosa, South Dakota just a few weeks after celebrating her 80th birthday. She was surrounded by her children and her daughter Lanise’s husband, who, together with Hospice nurses, helped care for her during her recent bout of pneumonia.

Rhenda was born in Amarillo, Texas on January 10, 1945, to Betty (Hill) and Howard Fuqua. She grew up on the family farm in the Texas Panhandle in the company of beloved grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and many pets. An only child, Rhenda bore the responsibilities of the family legacy of farming and ranching and she took great care to prioritize caring for the land and the livestock that depended upon her throughout her life, but especially after her mother passed away in 1993, and her father passed away in 2009.

Rhenda graduated from Tascosa High School and found joy skiing in Tres Ritos, and Sipapu, New Mexico. She met her husband, Robert “Terry” Beeson, on one of those ski bus rides, and they married August 11, 1965. Shortly afterwards, they embarked on their life together in Colorado where Terry worked for the Colorado State Forest Service which allowed them many fun summers living in rustic mountain cabins on State Forest land. She worked as an administrative assistant for a variety of small businesses before starting their family in Lyons, Colorado in 1969. In mid-life, she earned her real estate license and started her own property management business in the Fraser Valley of Colorado. Terry preceded her in death in July 2014 after almost 50 years together. Then she put her business acumen into practice outside of Clarendon, Texas where she and her cattle partner ran cattle and regenerated the land together for the last several years of her life. She was happiest after a good rain and was eager to ride in the pickup truck every morning to check her cattle.

Rhenda is survived by her three children, Mindy Hill (David), Lanise Taunton-Rigby (Nathan Thorn), and Jess Beeson (Razonyah), five grandchildren, and five other children she considered grand-family. They will remember her strength and can-do spirit, especially in their mountain home in Fraser, Colorado where she was always up for hosting fun groups of her children’s friends during their high school and college years. She was a friend to those in need, a skier to be admired for her graceful technique, and a dedicated farmer and rancher who received a great deal of support from her daughter, Lanise, so she could continue pursuing that passion despite the setbacks of cancer over the years.

Her extended family will gather for private memorial services in Clarendon, Texas, and Fraser, Colorado later this spring and summer. In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to plant trees, make a donation to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center https://gifts.mdanderson.org/, Monument Health Hospice Care in Rapid City, South Dakota https://giving.classy.org/campaign/630065/donate, or to the Colorado State Forest Service https://give.colostate.edu/campaigns/45078/donations/new in Rhenda’s memory.