MELINDA LUCILLE STOREY BEAUCHENE
Rape-crisis counselor was committed to helping women

By JOE SIMNACHER Staff Writer  
Published July 28, 2004



At midlife, Melinda Lucille Storey Beauchene was a legal assistant who decided to be a counselor. She earned a master's degree in counseling and became a Dallas rape-crisis counselor and educator who was known for her professionalism.

Ms. Beauchene, 52, died Thursday of breast cancer at Zale Lipshy University Hospital.

A memorial will be at 2 p.m. today at Oak Cliff Presbyterian Church, 6000 S. Hampton Road in Dallas.

"It was her dream," said her stepmother, Chris Storey of DeSoto. "She loved helping women."

For about the last seven years, Ms. Beauchene was a rape counselor at Parkland Memorial Hospital, where she also worked with parents who had lost infants. She also gave Dallas police officers and Dallas school district staff members sensitivity training on how to work with rape victims.

"Her clients loved her, and she loved her clients," said Wanda Davenport, a fellow Parkland crisis counselor. "She was professional in everything she did ... she was a very competent person. She was an active part of every committee she was on."

Ms. Beauchene was born in Dallas, where she graduated from Sunset High School in 1969. She attended Cameron College in Lawton, Okla., and Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

She married Ken Beauchene about 30 years ago. When he died of cancer several years ago, she decided to become a counselor, her stepmother said.

Ms. Beauchene received a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in educational counseling from Dallas Baptist University.

"She just threw herself into her career," her stepmother said.

In addition to her stepmother, Ms. Beauchene is survived by her father, Charles H. Storey of DeSoto; a brother, Charles M. Storey of Fountain Hills, Ariz.; and a sister, Mary Jane Krewall of Dallas.

Memorials may be made to Genesis Women's Shelter, P.O. Drawer G, Dallas, Texas 75208, or Oak Cliff Presbyterian Church, 6000 S. Hampton Road, Dallas, Texas 75232.