In the early morning hours of Wednesday, December 2, 2015, Beverly Ann Tyria of Kalamazoo, Michigan passed away after a battle with intestinal cancer. Just one year previously, she was celebrating the Christmas Season with her Grandson Joe, enjoying the addition of the starter figures to the Bronner’s Exclusive Lifesize Nativity Scene that Joe had just added to his annual Christmas Display. This was the Nativity that Bev encouraged Joe to purchase, knowing it would take several years to complete due to it being a hefty financial investment. One of the requests she’d made of Joe was to erect the Nativity Scene for her, even if she couldn’t see it. Joe had just purchased new figures to add to the display that August, and she wanted to be sure it was displayed. So while she was in the hospital succumbing to a secondary infection due to the cancer, Joe was home setting up the Nativity just for her. Bev had been with Wings of Hope hospice since early November 2015. Her going to the hospital could have revoked her hospice, but since it was pneumonia and not cancer that sent her there, revocation of hospice was the least of the Tyria Family’s concerns. Eventually it was blood cultures that found the secondary infection usually associated with this type of cancer. So Bev was moved to Wings Home in Allegan, Michigan to spend whatever time she had left. She went into a deep sleep from which she never really awoke. The hospice volunteer said she went peacefully in her sleep, just the way she’d always hoped for. When Joe returned home that day from Allegan, and then from finalizing funeral plans, he’d found that two of the blowmold sheep that he’d painted to go with the Bronner’s figures had been stolen from the yard. He filed a theft report with the Kalamazoo Township Police Department, never expecting to see the sheep again. Later that evening, a lady returned one of the sheep. She’d almost ran over the sheep as it had been left in the middle of Lake Street, not far from the Tyria residence. The paint was scraped up too much to be put back into the display, and the ears were slightly dented, but not bad enough to discard the figure. Joe placed it in the basement until he could work on the repairs come Spring of 2016. A few days later, Joe was with his Mother, Jackie, driving around to this appointment or that to tie up loose ends with funeral planning, etc. They noticed the other missing sheep in the back corner of a neighbor’s yard. It had been thrown over the fence, obviously unknown to the homeowner. Joe reached over the fence to retrieve it. This sheep also had minor damage and was placed into the basement until it could also be worked on in the Spring. Later that day, Joe decided that the Nativity should be an annual memorial for his late Grandmother. It was at that moment that the Beverly A. Tyria Memorial Nativity Scene was born. The display garnered a lot of attention during its' first year, especially with the addition of the 3 Magi one week prior to Christmas 2015. Joe had found a vintage-no-longer-made Bronner's Lifesize Nativity on Craigslist for dirt-cheap and purchased it. He only needed the Magi and Camels, so he donated the rest of the figures to his Parish, Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Kalamazoo. After the theft (and subsequent return) of the blowmold Sheep, Joe can antsy about the style of Baby Jesus he was displaying in the Scene. So he found an actually Bronner's Lifesize Baby Jesus on eBay and snagged it for less than the seller was asking for. His intention was to refurbish the figure in the Spring of 2016 and start using it that December, retiring the other one as a backup if needed. Unfortunately, Joe woke up on Christmas Eve morning to find an empty manger in the Nativity. Someone had stolen the Baby Jesus! So after work that day, Joe put the Bronner's Baby, paint dings and all, out into the display so that Baby Jesus would be there for Christmas Day. The figure was subsequently refurbished and is now part of the annual display. Display is located at:
1403 OLMSTEAD ROAD
KALAMAZOO, MI. 49048. Erected each December (or late November) and illuminated from dusk til dawn in honor of a very special lady that touched many hearts. Figures produced exclusively by Bronner's Commercial Display - Frankenmuth, MI.
