| Beverly Cleary | |
 | |
| Birth: | 12 April 1916 McMinnville, Oregon, USA |
| Death: | 25 March 2021 Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, USA |
| Age: | 104 years, 347 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Centenarian | |
Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; 12 April 1916 – 25 March 2021) was an American author and centenarian.
Biography[]
Beverly Clearly was born as Beverly Atlee Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon, United States on 12 April 1916. She spent much of her early life doing farm work. When she was six years old, her family moved to Portland, Oregon. She nearly failed first grade, and didn’t read on her own until third grade. During the Great Depression, Cleary attended Chaffey Junior College in Ontario, California, where tuition was free. To help pay for the rest of her education, at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Washington, she worked a variety of jobs — including as a seamstress and a chambermaid. She struggled through her classes with poor eyesight; her mother denied her money for glasses because she feared it would spoil her daughter’s appearance. Eventually, her mother relented — to no ill effect on Beverly’s love life. In 1940, she eloped, marrying her longtime sweetheart Clarence Cleary, who died in 2004. In 1955, Cleary gave birth to twins, Malcolm and Marianne.
Cleary long yearned to be a writer and later she became a children’s librarian. Cleary’s first book, Henry Huggins, was published in 1950. Based loosely on a story she had overheard while working at a military hospital library, the book (originally titled “Spareribs and Henry”) came slowly. Cleary was the creator of some of the most authentic characters in children's literature — Henry Huggins, Ralph S. Mouse, and the irascible Ramona Quimby. Cleary has won a National Book Award, a Newbery Medal, and a National Medal of Art from the National Endowment of the Arts, among other accolades. In 2000, the Library of Congress gave her a Living Legend Award. Cleary’s last book was Ramona’s World, published in 1999.
Beverly Clearly died at her retirement home in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, United States on 25 March 2021 at the age of 104 years, 347 days.
External links[]
References[]
- Beverly Cleary on turning 100: Kids today ‘don’t have the freedom’ I had The Washington Post, 3 April 2016
- Children's Author Beverly Cleary, Creator Of Ramona Quimby, Dies At 104 NPR, 26 March 2021
- Children's author Beverly Cleary, creator of Ramona Quimby, dies at age 104 CNN, 26 March 2021