Beverly Sinclair Thordarson

Beverly Sinclair Thordarson, born December 30, 1939, in Santa Monica, passed away July 23 at home after fighting a courageous battle against stage four breast cancer for the last four and a half years.

She was raised and attended public schools in Burbank. In the early 70s, Beverly traveled for 18 months through Tahiti, Fiji, New Caledonia, Australia, and Southeast Asia including Afghanistan, Burma and Nepal. During her travel through Australia, she paused to teach at an all boys school. Then, three months traveling through Europe, and all her travels were with a backpack and a good pair of walking shoes. Returning to America, she lived in the Berkshires of Massachusetts in a hand-built cabin without plumbing. Then she purchased a 100 year old, 21 room mansion and lived there.

Beverly then settled in Willits, Calif. She occasionally substituted at Willits High School, and served on the Willits Cultural Arts Commission to fulfill her creative side. She became a real estate agent selling large unimproved acreage wearing cowboy boots and a backpack which was one of her favorites of many careers; she loved the land. After seven years there, and a stop in Santa Rosa living on a llama ranch, she went back to LA, then moved to Lake Arrowhead and co-founded a theater group.

In the early 1990s, she traveled to SE Asia (Indonesia, Bali and Borneo) using her success as a video producer in the corporate world to produce a travel video for which she was recognized with the prestigious "Cindy Award" for Best Video Production.

Beverly reinvented herself many times since then, sharing her skills as a top-rated instructor at UCLA Extension, an executive coach and career counselor, while earning an MS in counseling. For 22 years she worked independently as The Sinclair Group.

After marrying Sten Thordarson, she moved to Bell Canyon, Calif. in 1995, then to Fallbrook in 2006. Her love of the small town lifestyle didn't change.

In Fallbrook, she became a large avocado grower and an artist, winning her first award in pastels in the second show she entered. She was also honored with the "People's Choice Award" by the majority of the art show viewers. She had been painting for only six years.

Beverly became active in various art associations (FAI and FAA) and was also a mentor in the AAUW AVID program. She was an inspiration to everyone she met and Sten misses her terribly.

To quote many of her friends, she was such an amazing person, intelligent, enthusiastic, compassionate, principled, a dedicated volunteer, and a talented artist. We so admired her; whenever she saw a need, she was the first to volunteer. She will be terribly missed by all who knew and loved her.

She is also survived by her cousins, Barbara Jones, Chris Jones, Gary Beuchel, Ronald Beuchel; and stepdaughter Tricia Thordarson.

The family is not planning to have a service. If you wish to honor Beverly, please consider the Fallbrook Arts Inc. or the local American Association of University Women branch's "Beverly Thordarson Scholarship Fund".