Beverley Manley

Beverley Manley distinctly remembers writing her first poem at the age of 12. She had started keeping a diary at age 7 after the death of her mother, and she was struggling to express herself in dealing with the grief. “Writing made me feel free, like a bird flying over what once were barriers.” Seventy years later, she published her second book of poetry, Seasons of the Soul: 38 Lyric Poems, a collection of poems about love, adventure, and freedom. Now in her eighth decade, she is preparing to leave a legacy by passing on her estate to help save the earth and make it a better place to live.

An independent soul

Born in Independence, Missouri, Beverley’s childhood was rooted in the Great Depression and the Jim Crow South. But she chose to look for the best in others and celebrate moments of joy, rather than focusing on the past. She read everything she could find and wrote her deepest thoughts in her journal. “For me, happiness meant education.”

Her earliest memories were cuddling in her mother’s lap, reading nursery rhymes and stories, and her grandfather singing folk songs in his native German. These glimpses into the natural rhythm and beauty of words became etched on her soul and still shape her goals today.

Following high school, she began saving money to attend a small college in a country town in Iowa. After a year of classes, she fell in love and married a young man who wanted to stay in Missouri, and soon after, she took a job with AT&T in 1956 with one goal in mind: a secure retirement.

Starting as a telephone operator in Kansas City, Beverley worked for the company for more than 30 years. “I wanted to connect people around the world.” She stayed in Kansas City for a decade, but when AT&T opened a new office in San Francisco in 1966, Beverley jumped at the chance to transfer. Two weeks later, the young couple moved into a house across the street from the Pacific Ocean. There, she found her voice.

The way west

Beverley and her husband embraced their new surroundings. They took in the ballet, the opera, art museums, hiking, camping, and outdoor concerts featuring folk music, rock ‘n roll, and the blues. “What did I love about San Francisco? What didn’t I love about San Francisco,” she laughs. “The very air was filled with excitement, with the joy of exploring a new way of life.”

She wrote poems about the ocean, dance, her husband, the California coast, and the people she met during her adventures. The shy, quiet girl from the Midwest began to emerge from her shell. But she also felt a longing for another place she once heard about in a poem: the American desert. Beverley felt an odd kinship with the land and wanted to be part of it.

While living in San Francisco across the street from Ocean Beach, she subscribed to New Mexico Magazine and received the New Mexico Retirement Guide. Truth or Consequences was listed as one of the best places for retirees, so one summer, Beverley and her sister (who lived in Maine) took a two-week trip to find out.

Once there, Beverley was struck by a finely detailed, brilliant painting on the city’s water tower, and when she learned that a group of citizens pooled $30,000 to have it painted, her heart and mind were set on Truth or Consequences. She moved there in 1994.

Finding a new voice

After getting settled in her new home, Beverley began writing more fervently and joined a poetry circle called the Black Cat Poets. Words flowed out of her like the mighty Rio Grande. The idea of writing a book – a memoir, spiritual essays, poetry – began to take wings, and her fellow poets encouraged her.

At the same time, something else happened that changed Beverley’s life. She began watching PBS television, a pastime she began during her years in San Francisco. But she grew tired of the rising prices of cable TV, so she put a satellite dish on her roof. When she searched for her public television station, she picked up the signal for KRWG, which broadcasts from Milton Hall on the New Mexico State University campus in Las Cruces. The station’s reach stretches from southern New Mexico to west Texas. She became a sustaining member and immediately felt like she had become part of a family again.

KRWG is a significant resource for a wide range of both Public Broadcasting Service and independently produced news, cultural, and entertainment media programming. The award-winning station is a service of New Mexico State University, and significant funding for the station flows through the NMSU Foundation. Beverley was quickly drawn into the four-times-per-year campaigns and asked for a station tour. To her delight, KRWG General Manager Adrian Velarde invited her in for a walk through at the station and a meet ‘n greet with the staff.

From then on, Beverley was hooked. She visits KRWG on occasion and knows the entire team, even wondering who’s on deck when the power goes out or programming is interrupted. She is captivated by their news coverage, British comedies and dramas, and public affairs programming.

Leaving a legacy

In 2020, Beverley contacted the NMSU Foundation to begin making arrangements to leave half of her estate to KRWG. She willed the other half of her estate to The Nature Conservancy. “It’s a powerful combination, one organization working to save the planet and the other inspiring people to want to save the planet while enriching their lives in multiple ways,” she says. “Children who watch shows on PBS might find fields of study they would like to major in and maybe even consider NMSU for college.”

Reflecting on the importance of New Mexico State University to this region of the state, Beverley especially appreciates the NMSU Department of Government’s strong intercultural awareness programs. “Part of our enchantment lies in the unique cultures we can experience here in New Mexico, and NMSU is itself embedded in this multicultural society,” she says. She also emphasized the importance of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies and its intersection with KRWG through News 22, where students learn all the things a modern-day broadcast journalist needs to know. “This all works to create a more informed world,” she adds.

While she hopes to keep writing poetry and watching KRWG for many more years, she finds deep satisfaction in knowing her resources are entrusted to the places she considers most trustworthy. She encourages others to think about KRWG, too. “I realize they may have a family to consider but think about the power of giving to something that educates future generations,” she says.

Her poem “Premonitions” sums up her feelings: So gently hold the hope. So warmly nurse the dream. So softly tiptoe toward the future.

“Joy is our reason for existing. And if helping pass on something as powerful as education or a better world can bring so much joy to me, I know it can bring joy to others, too.”

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