Beverly K. Buck, a longtime Lake Oswego resident and West Linn school teacher, died July 15 in Oregon City. She was 86.

Beverly Lorene Keebaugh was born to Oliver and Regina Keebaugh, in Poynette, Wisconsin.

She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1950 and took recreation leadership jobs in northern and central California; her many trips to Yosemite for the Girl Scouts of America cementing a love for the outdoors.

After Beverly and her family settled in Lake Oswego in 1964, she began a 24-year teaching career, earning a master’s degree at Portland State University. Following one year at Peninsula School in north Portland, she spent two decades in West Linn, guiding sixth graders at Bolton Middle School, then fifth graders at Sunset Primary School.

Beverly taught social studies, but focused on language arts. She instilled strong writing and grammar skills in hundreds of pupils, many of whom would warmly greet her, upon chance encounters, years later.

She also performed with the City of Roses chapter of the Sweet Adelines choral group. Her strong bass voice helped the chapter excel in many regional and national competitions.

After retiring in 1989, Beverly volunteered as an adult literacy tutor. She especially enjoyed helping many foreign students at Portland Community College’s Sylvania campus, even as she extensively traced her own family genealogy. She won special recognition for her volunteer efforts from Clackamas County leaders, took great joy in touching many lives and truly was a lifelong learner.

A dedicated gardener, Beverly loved all variety of flowers and trees, wild or domesticated. She held a special fondness for “volunteer” plants, often unable to weed them out — just as she embraced the same precocious pre-teen students many teachers sought to avoid.

She is survived by her sons, Larry, of Yacolt, Washington, and Howard, of Portland; and by her former husband, Harold F. Buck, of Yacolt.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Donald, and sister, Marjorie.

Her absence will be deeply felt by her sons, her beloved plants and all the creatures who found peace and refuge in her verdant home.

Cremation was handled by the Riverview Abbey Funeral Home in Portland.

A Beverly Buck Tribute page can be found on Facebook, via Howard Buck; anyone with favorite memories or thoughts is invited to share them.