Longtime Jaffrey businessman Mark Bean, who died suddenly last week, is remembered for the passion he had for his family and the family business, D.D. Bean & Sons Co., as well as his commitment to the community and its history.
“Everything he did, there was a passion behind it,” his older brother Delcie Bean said.
Bean’s list of passions started with his family – his wife of more than 30 years, Linda, along with their seven children and seven grandchildren, and his five brothers and sisters. There was the family business, D.D. Bean & Sons Co. in Jaffrey, where he worked for 47 years and served as vice president of operations. And the town of Jaffrey, the community where he grew up and called home for many years.
That’s why his sudden passing on Aug. 12 while out for a run with Linda has left a huge void to all those he knew him.
“The No. 1 thing that has helped is how the many people he impacted, the people he touched that have reached out,” said his son, Delcie Bean IV.
That Monday morning was like any other. Bean spent two hours meeting with his two brothers, Delcie and Chris Bean, at the Jaffrey plant where they are the only match producer remaining in the United States and Canada.
“I never thought that would be the last time I’d see him,” said his older brother Chris Bean.
Bean, the youngest of six, was active. He regularly went for runs, ran in local 5ks and was training for the Clarence DeMar half marathon in Keene next month. Living on Granite Lake in Nelson, Bean and his wife would circle the lake once a day.
“That was the thing they did together,” Delcie Bean IV said.
Above everything else, he loved his family. When he met Linda while working at a company-owned manufacturing plant in California, she was the mother of three young children. They eventually moved back to New Hampshire and went on to have three more children of their own. Then 15 years ago, they decided to adopt a 6-year-old boy. But whether it was his biological children, step-children or his adopted son, Bean loved them all the same.
“Pop never differentiated at all. If you asked him, he had seven kids,” Delcie Bean IV said.
The family business though was a close second. After high school, Bean deferred going to college and went to work at D.D. Bean, started by his grandfather in 1938. Bean always anticipated working there and took great pride in carrying on the tradition that had been passed down through the generations.
“He loved this business and he loved its history,” Delcie Bean said. “And had a real passion for the match industry.”
He was instrumental after D.D. Bean bought the final remaining match production company in the U.S. five years ago.
“In the last few years, especially during the transition, he was the first line of communication,” Chris said. “Mark had a special role and he helped make it all happen.”
And he had a true calling to help his community. He spent time on the Jaffrey-Rindge School Board and the Board of Monadnock Community Hospital. He served as president of both the Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce and the Jaffrey Historical Society. During the company’s community celebration of the 100th anniversary of the match, he helped revive the Jaffrey Festival of Fireworks. In recent years, he was a big supporter of the project to build a new Park Theatre.
One of his greatest interests was Jaffrey history and specifically the murder of Dr. William Dean in 1918. Last summer, Bean spoke about the unsolved case and its history at the Amos Fortune Forum, coinciding with the 100-year anniversary of the murder that shocked and divided the town.
He spent a lot of time researching the circumstances surrounding the case and had his best guess of who was behind it, only sharing his conclusion with a select few.
“And he could disprove your theory,” Delcie Bean said.
Delcie Bean IV said his father’s interest in the case came from his mother Margaret. In fact, Bean’s father, Delcie Bean Jr., was once considered a suspect.
“Ultimately, he wanted to solve the case,” Delcie Bean IV said.
He helped secure a $20,000 grant for the Jaffrey Historical Society to acknowledge and share the 100th anniversary with the community. That was the first thing that Rob Stephenson worked with Bean on.
“He was quite knowledgeable and quite interested in it,” Stephenson said. “And we would have not spent as much time as we did on it if not for Mark. That effort wouldn’t have worked without him.”
More recently, the two were part of a working committee investigating the feasibility of a match industry museum in Jaffrey. That group included Stephen Weiner.
Weiner has amassed quite the collection of matchbook covers over the years and soon after he moved to Jaffrey, he sent Bean an email introducing himself. Bean went to Weiner’s house and the two talked for over an hour. It was the beginning of a long friendship founded over a common passion for the industry.
Whenever something new was being made at the plant, Bean would call Weiner. He even had special covers made for Weiner’s daughter’s wedding.
And one day the idea for the museum came up in conversation.
“He said we should really sit down and discuss a museum,” Weiner said.
The friendship began over matches, but it grew into so much more.
“He just had a personality that would draw you in,” Weiner said. “He took a lot of pride in his efforts, what he was involved in. He gave so much of himself and that was just the kind of man he was.”
Caroline Hollister, Bean’s cousin, knew him his entire life. She’ll remember his commitment to better the Jaffrey community.
“He gave everything he could and he’ll be missed tremendously, not just by his family, but everyone who knew him,” Hollister said.
For Delcie Bean IV, he’ll remember his father for coaching his youth soccer team, encouraging him when he wanted to start a business rather than go to college and the enthusiasm he showed when giving a tour of D.D. Bean.
“He was probably the most selfless individual I’ve known,” his son said, adding, “He was very humble and didn’t want credit for things he did. He was happy being in the background.”
A memorial service will be held on Friday, Sept. 6 at 2 p.m. at the United Church of Jaffrey followed by a reception at the Mildred Cutter Hall.
The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made in Mark’s memory to the Park Theatre, PO Box 278, Jaffrey, NH 03452, or to the Granite Lake Association, C/O Thomas Newcombe – Treasurer, 701 Granite Lake Road, Munsonville, NH 03457.