Octavia Den Beste

A Star was born on January 27, 1924 and returned to the heavens the morning of March 22, 2016.

Octavia Viola Star Den Beste was born in Harrison, SD and passed away in her home in Star Valley, AZ with family at her bedside. She was 92 years of age.

Octavia (“Tave”) was the oldest of four children born to John E. Star and Minnie Smits. Octavia was named after her own grandmother, Oktje, and her name is shared with her youngest Great Granddaughter, Lauryn Octavia.

While attending Corsica High School in Corsica, SD, she sold a senior yearbook to Gene Robert Den Beste, and then worked at the pharmacy and cosmetics counter of his parents’ business, Den Beste Drug. After earning her degree from Springfield State Normal School and teaching for a time in a one-room schoolhouse, Octavia married Gene on July, 29, 1947 in her parents’ living room.

She worked alongside Gene and his family in the pharmacy in Corsica, and gave birth to her son, Robert, in 1948. The business expanded and the family moved to Mitchell, where daughters Linda and Peggy were born in 1951 and 1959.

In 1965, Gene and Tave moved their family to a townhouse in Glendale, AZ which they rented while their family house at 4141 W. Kaler Dr, in Phoenix, AZ was being built. Gene pursued his pharmacy career, while Tave supported him and cared for our family. She baked bread, made her own jams and jellies, canned food, and sewed clothes. The congregation at the Orangewood Christian Reformed Church, where she played an active role for many years, would line up for her lemon meringue pie (and perhaps take cuts) because she would only bring one pie.

In 1978, Tave went to work at Maricopa County Hospital in the Pharmacy. She eventually would be the Chief Technician of the Out-Patient Pharmacy and then the Pharmacy Warehouse until she retired to care for Gene. She returned to work part-time after Gene’s passing until her health finally caused her own final retirement in her eighties.

Tave would own the Kaler home until 1997. Five generations of our family--from her own parents and in-laws to her oldest great-grandson, Tyler-- slept under that roof, swam in that pool and broke bread at the dining room table. Octavia made the house a home.

Tave bought a condo in Glendale, AZ, to which she added her special touches to make it more like home. Her daughter, Linda moved to Glendale from South Dakota in 2007 and stayed with Tave until she moved into the Majestic Rim Apartments in Payson, AZ in 2012. While at the Majestic, Tave made numerous friends and was well loved by all. Her 90th birthday party filled the large dining room with friends and relatives from many states. As her health failed and she became unable to live on her own, she moved into an assisted living facility and then came to live with Tim and Peggy, who cared for her until her passing.

Tave is survived by 3 children, Robert, Phoenix, AZ, Linda, Phoenix, AZ, Peggy (Tim) Hasty, Star Valley, AZ, 4 grandsons: Chad Menning, Trent (Kelly) Menning, and Tim (Shawna) Hasty, Jr., and Greg Martin; 2 granddaughters: Jessica Den Beste-Hasty and Mary Den Beste; 10 great grandchildren: Tyler, Diamond, Baylea, Jocellyn, and Lauryn LaFlesch, Eli and Alyssa Perez, Tahro and Aiden Hasty. She was very excited to learn that a great- grandson, Fitzgerald Lloyd Menning ,and great-great grandson, Anthony Elijah Perez, were on the way.