Maria Eloísa Garcia Etchegoyhen de Lorenzo, through the Inter-American Children's Institute (IACI) in her hometown, Montevideo, Uruguay, made international contributions to improving the quality of life of people with disabilities and their families. View a PowerPoint about Eloisa.
She served as chief of the Institute's Mental Retardation Unit from 1967 to 1987. She was a tireless champion for families of people with disabilities, a brilliant international speaker, and an outstanding worldwide expert who regularly served as a consultant to the UN, UNESCO, WHO, UNICEF, and CEPAL.
Among the many honors bestowed upon Eloísa de Lorenzo in her lifetime were the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation Award in 1966; the Leadership Award of the American Association on Mental Deficiency in 1976; the Award of Merit of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation in 1977; a Distinguished Achievement Award (Service in Mental Deficiency) from the International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency; and the Regina Sophia Award, presented by Queen Sophia of Spain in Madrid, Spain in 1996. A permanent plaque at the headquarters of the IACI in Montevideo memorializes her lasting influence on the people with whom she had any contact and on the world as a whole.
Known simply as "Eloisa," she was a close friend of Marianna and Ross Beach, of Dick Schiefelbusch (founder of the LifeSpan Institute at the University of Kansas), and Ann and Rud Turnbull, co-founders and co-directors of the Beach Center. Her unbounded enthusiasm, her buoyant spirit, her tireless work ethic, her single-minded focus, and her persuasive advocacy drew people to her from throughout the world and, with them as her allies, made it possible for her to transform attitudes, policy, and practice internationally.
Ross and Marianna Beach
Marianna Kistler Beach has served people with developmental disabilities and their families in three important spheres of influence. She has worked closely with the public agency that serves them in central Kansas, served as a member of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation (1969-75), and been appointed to represent the United States as its delegate to the Inter-American Children's Institute, a specialized agency of the Organization of American States (1981-88). She was the first person from the United States to be elected as the presiding officer of the Institute's governing council and the only person to serve in that role for three consecutive terms (1982-88). She also has been a leader in the Kansas-Paraguay Partners Program.
Mrs. Beach has had a life-time commitment to advancing the visual arts and artists throughout Kansas and the Midwest. Her interests have manifested themselves in two ways. She has served as a director of the Midwest Arts Council and, with Mr. Beach, created a nationally significant art museum, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum, at Kansas State University, their alma mater. She continues to be an advisor to the Spencer Art Museum, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Lied Center for the Performing Arts, all at the University of Kansas.
Ross Beach is an engineer, pilot, and a Navy veteran. He has been a leader of businesses related to oil and gas drilling and supply (Kansas Natural Gas, Inc.), airplane maintenance, radio broadcasting, and banking (Douglas County Bank), and has owned a large cattle ranch in central Kansas. During World War II, he instructed pilots of the U.S. Navy and British Armed Services and has more than 60 years' experience as a pilot of his own airplanes. He has served as chairman of the Kansas State Chamber of Commerce, member of the board of directors of the Kansas State Fair, chairman of the Kansas State Forestry Fish and Game Commission, and as a director and member of various federal defense-agency advisory councils, international trade- and good-will delegations, banks and other businesses, and church, scouting, and farming entities. He holds international records as a hunter of big game in Africa and, with Mrs. Beach, has supported a museum of natural history at Fort Hays State University, in Hays, Kansas, their former home town.
Mr. and Mrs. Beach have been honored by Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas and numerous other civic associations for their contributions to the state and its universities, schools, and communities. Together with their daughters Terry, Jane, and Mary (all of whom earned various degrees at the University of Kansas), they are generous benefactors of the Beach Center and have established the Marianna and Ross Beach Distinguished Professorship to endow the Center's permanent leadership.