CHELMSFORD-Beatrice Hunt Iams died in the early afternoon of January 10, 2012. She was a chorister and choirmaster in various Episcopal churches for 84 years. She was born February 25, 1912, daughter of James Hunt, Jr. and Bertha Hodge Hunt in Woonsocket, RI. At her death she was six weeks and a few days short of 100 years of age. She moved to Plymouth, MA, in 1920, and was educated there. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Education at Bridgewater State College in 1933. She attended the American Institute of Normal Methods, receiving a teaching certificate in Music Education, and Columbia University, New York City, earning the degree of Master of Music Education in 1944. She studied voice with Grace Leslie, in New York and Salisbury, Mass. She taught music and became Supervisor of Music in Plymouth, MA, schools from 1933 until 1945. She was choir director for Christ Episcopal Church, Plymouth, from 1933 to 1945 and again from 1973 to 1986. While there she performed with a vocal quartet. She was often heard as a soprano soloist in concert and church settings.

She married Victor Lee Iams at Christ Church, Plymouth, on August 30, 1945. They moved first to Manistee, MI, where they both taught music in the public schools and directed church choirs. They next moved to Mount Pleasant, MI, where he taught music at Central Michigan University and at the High School and she was supervisor of music for the Wexford County schools in Cadillac, MA. While there she directed a church choir and women’s chorus and performed as a soloist and in recitals. They next moved to Keene, NH, where he directed the high school band and she directed the choirs at St. James Episcopal Church.

They finally settled in Dayton, OH, in 1953, where he taught junior high school music in the Kettering Public Schools, while she taught voice and directed choirs for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church from 1953 until 1973. She was also director of the Dayton Women’s Club Chorus. She published Sing and Dance in 1945 under the editorship of Harry Robert Wilson. After the death of her husband in 1978, she lived in Plymouth until1986, when she joined her daughter and family in Bowling Green, Ohio, then in Chelmsford, MA, where she was a member of All Saints’ Episcopal Church. She managed the United Thank Offering donations, served on the Pastoral Care Commission and sang in the choir.

Beatrice is survived by Kathryn and her husband, Oliver Chamberlain, three grandchildren, James Chamberlain, Margaret and her husband, Timothy O’Neil, and Carolyn and her husband, Joshua Dellinger, and their two children, Ryan and Quinn; a step-grandchild, Elizabeth and her husband, Brett Long, and their two children, Autumn and Samuel. Her brother, Lt. Col. Walter Hunt, a veteran of WWII and the Korean conflict, died at age 86 in 1995, and is buried with his wife Connie at Arlington National Cemetery.
Memorial visitation will be held on Friday evening from 3 until 7 PM at the BLAKE FUNERAL HOME, 24 Worthen St., Chelmsford.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Chelmsford. Interment at Christ Church Parish, Plymouth at a later date. The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the All Saints Church Music Fund, 10 Billerica Road, Chelmsford, MA 01824.