Beverly Ann Brown Hawkins

We Are So Blessed Beverly Ann Brown Hawkins, 84, of Silver Spring, Maryland, died peacefully at home on October 4, 2026, surrounded by her loved ones. Who was Beverly? According to her sister Angela Miotto, “She was the one with a glorious smile, who was always thinking of other people. She was a woman of deep faith; a wife, mother, aunt, teacher, friend, grandmother, nature-lover, and animal-lover. She was the one who sat with the person who was sitting alone, who sat and listened to a grieving stranger, who comforted the overwhelmed, and who tried to help anyone with a problem.” According to sister Patricia Rogers, even as Beverly declined in health, she would still point out the wonders of creation—the sky, a flower, a leaf—on their walks. Beverly’s son Bill Haddican recalls that people often described Beverly as “mischievous,” and that Beverly sometimes called herself, with her signature grin, “a troublemaker.” Born January 27, 1942, to J. D. and Marguerite Brown in Asheville, North Carolina, little Beverly’s family was the touchstone of her world throughout her childhood and young adulthood. From the start, she and her three sisters, Angela, Patricia, and Janet, shared a deep bond that has never changed. They did everything together and felt blessed by their sisterhood. Beverly’s father, who she called Jadey, gave his daughter the loving nickname “Bebe,” and Beverly’s grandchildren carry on that tradition. Jadey taught his girls swimming, diving, and tennis at a nearby lake club, and they enjoyed games like “kick the can” and playing with their well-loved dog, Nicky (among many other canine companions over the years). Their mother, known as Buddley (because Angela, the eldest, had trouble saying “mother”), told her daughters that they could never give her a greater gift than loving one another. Beverly graduated from St. Genevieve of the Pines Catholic School in Asheville and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in French at Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross in Washington, DC. Following college, Beverly earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. Beverly touched the lives of hundreds of young people through her 25-year teaching career. She shared her love of the English and French languages at several schools, including High Point High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Christ the King Catholic School in Jacksonville, Florida, where her nephew, Michael Hoffman, was one of her students! While living in the Washington, DC, area, she found time to introduce her sister, Patricia, to her future husband, John Rogers. Beverly spent the majority of her career teaching English at Mt. Airy Middle School in Carroll County, Maryland. Her great sense of humor, patience, and creativity helped see her through challenging and rewarding days of educating teenagers about literature and writing. Beverly was also a “ringer” on Mt. Airy’s faculty team for the annual faculty-student softball game! She also enjoyed taking long walks to drink in the beauties of nature. Two of the biggest milestones in Beverly’s life were the 1969 birth of her son, Bill, who became the center of her life, and to whom she passed on her love of life and learning, and her 1992 marriage to Gordon Hawkins, known as Don, her treasured life partner. A few years after marrying, Beverly retired from teaching, with Don retiring not long after. Retirement allowed the couple to enjoy their new leisure time together. A favorite activity was hiking in the mountains around Massanutten, VA, where they owned a timeshare. Beverly was brought up in the majesty of the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, and those Virginia walks reminded her of the natural environs she came to love as a child. Retirement also gave Beverly more time and energy to devote to volunteer work and other activities related to her faith. A lifelong Roman Catholic, Beverly’s religion was foundational, guiding her decisions and determining her values. Angela remembers a mantra that shaped Beverly’s worldview: “all is blessing.” For many years, Beverly was active in St. Rose of Lima parish church in Germantown, Maryland, where she contributed to the community in many ways. Beverly had a keen sense of social justice, which influenced how she lived her life and spent her time. For example, she felt a passionate concern for migrants and immigrants, and taught English as a Second Language to immigrant students for a year. She loved being able to use her French to help others. Although she was relentlessly cheerful and kind, bullying or injustice could occasionally rouse her temper. Another passion of Beverly’s was animals. In Asheville, the Brown family adopted several dogs, and the four sisters found great pleasure in playing with and taking care of them. While raising Bill in Gaithersburg, MD, Beverly adopted Nugget, a sweet and faithful yellow labrador retriever with whom she shared an unbreakable connection. When she moved to Riderwood in 2009, Beverly devoted herself to several feline friends, including the idolized and pampered Midnight Rose, known as Rosie, who accompanied Beverly through her later years, decline, and final illness, right up to the end. Beverly loved living at Riderwood and was active in the community, with a wide circle of friends, including her daughter-in-law’s father, the late Paul Leopold. She served on a committee that worked with the dining staff, and was unfailingly considerate and caring to staff and residents alike. Though she fought breast cancer for many years, Beverly passed away in comfort and peace with her husband, son, grandson, daughter-in-law, sisters, nieces, aides Flore, Faith, Sandrine, and Cecilia, and her cat Rosie at her side. She was predeceased by her sister, Janet Hoffman; niece, Diana Miotto; and brothers-in-law, John Rogers and Bernard Hoffman. Beverly is survived by her husband Gordon Hawkins; son Bill Haddican; daughter-in-law Julie Leopold; grandchildren Evan and Joey Haddican; sisters Angela Miotto and Patricia Rogers; stepchildren Thomas Hawkins, Michael Hawkins, and Kathy Puff; step-grandchildren Nicole and Kyle Hawkins, Ryan, Jake, and Connor Puff, and Allison and Sarah Hawkins; fourteen nieces and nephews and their spouses; a multitude of great-nephews and great-nieces as well as one great-great-niece; and Rosie the cat. A viewing will be held Monday, October 12, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., in the Riderwood Chapel, located at 3140 Gracefield Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20904. The viewing will be followed by a funeral Mass. A burial service will take place at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 13801 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20906, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider contributing to Doctors Without Borders, one of Beverly’s favorite charities.