Teresa Beem

Teresa Beem has had a very unusual life. Her grandfather built one of the first billion-dollar companies in Dallas, Ling-Tempo-Vought. Hence, growing up Teresa was always introduced as "Jim Ling's granddaughter." Trickle-down economics in this family meant Teresa's large pink room had its own fireplace, bathroom, sitting area and a bright, mammoth closet. Often escaping there to play, the closet had a window seat where she could gaze out at the world and dream. When she was five, she already wanted to be a mother so badly that during a large party she stole one of the guest's baby's and hid it out with her in the closet. Her home, called Blossom Manor, came complete with a dark, dungeon-like basement with two full sized stuffed alligators.

Later in life, she found out that home was haunted, which explains a lot of her oddly creepy childhood experiences.

Her father, determined to keep his six children from being spoiled, occasionally insisted that they eat rice and beans for dinner. Which was rather an amusing sight when maids served the plain fare on china with solid silver utensils. When small, Teresa's parents would take their children to Ling's mansion and put them to bed while they attended lavish parties downstairs. Theresa and her older brother would sneak down and peek through the banisters trying to catch a glimpse of people such as Bob Hope, Danny Thomas and other political and Hollywood celebrities.

Teresa and her siblings toured Texas as a 1970s Seventh-day Adventist version of the Von Trapp family singers. Her childhood was kept busy entertaining her five siblings with theatrical performances, often including the neighbor children. And to add to her extraordinary experiences, she went to school with Vernon Howell a.k.a. David Koresh of the Waco massacre--who also hung sheetrock in her home and tried to convince her of his prophetic abilities.

At a parochial boarding school in South Texas, she met her husband, Arthur, and they grew close traveling together in a small Christian singing group. She began dating him in 1979 and they married in 1984.

Teresa has always sung in public, but after three children, she returned to school to be classically trained and earned her degree in music performance as a lyric soprano. She also founded and was president of an anti-abortion organization, Adventists for Life--which gave her opportunity to speak on radio, in churches and schools.

Her career as a singer was taking off when the car she was driving was hit by a drug addict, dislocating her jaw and giving her chronic back problems. Her dream of singing in opera or musical theater had to be replaced with a new focus. This turn of events put her physical situation where she could not work, so she decided to homeschool her three children. After graduating home academy, all three of her children attended Liberty University.

Teresa Beem was a guest on EWTN's program, The Journey Home. You can hear a bit of her story at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rscyUXjWsss.

Through her incredible life, Teresa has always seen God's leading. Today, her children are adults and now her time is spent writing. She has published non-fiction in many periodicals; however, she has just completed her first novel trilogy. Arthur and Teresa spent many months in Europe researching for the story and because she prefers not to fly, they have crossed the Atlantic four times via ship.

Teresa brings a new perspective to everything. Though she feels quite normal, her life has been anything but (including feeling free to end a sentence with the prepositional form of the word).