Catherine Bean Dies; Advocate for Environment

Lifelong environmentalist and onetime Ventura City Councilwoman Catherine Bean died at her Ventura home Tuesday following a brief illness. She was 70.

Born in David City, Neb., in 1927, she came to Ventura County 41 years ago.

Before she was elected to the Ventura City Council in 1989, Bean taught in Ventura schools for 25 years and had been active in efforts to save open space and agricultural land, said her daughter, Catherine Dahlberg of Fountain Hills, Ariz.

“That’s what she fought hardest for,” Dahlberg said. “They might not have anything to preserve at this point if my mother hadn’t started the move to preserve it. She was an environmentalist before the word was used.”

Gary Tuttle, who served on the City Council with Bean, said he was most impressed with how strong she held her beliefs and how willing she was to put herself in the line of fire for those beliefs.

“I could always count on Cathy to be there when I needed her, and I hope she felt the same about me,” Tuttle said. “She was fun to work with, too.”

Bean’s long list of affiliations include the Ventura Unified Education Assn., the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources and Save the Sespe.

Besides her daughter, survivors include her husband, Arthur, of Ventura; a son, Daniel Bean of Chapel Hill, N.C.; her sister, Joan Castor of Oxnard, and one granddaughter.

A memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura. The Rev. Jim Wells will officiate.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, a contribution may be made to SOAR, P.O. Box 7352, Ventura 93006; the Nature Conservancy, P.O. Box 17056, Baltimore, MD 21298-9704; or the Ventura Education Partnership, 120 E. Santa Clara Ave., Ventura, 93001.