For more than five decades, Dr. Selden C. Beebe wore colorful Hawaiian shirts and passed out fun stickers of characters like Superman and Minnie Mouse to put his young patients at ease.
It has been estimated that Beebe treated more than 200,000 children since he started his pediatrics career in Long Beach in 1968. He was known affectionately as Long Beach’s beloved “Kid’s Doctor.”
“He was just one of the great doctors in our community,” said Dr. Charles Durnin, an orthopedic surgeon and former medical director at the Tichenor Clinic. “There was nothing he would rather do than take care of children. No one served his patients more completely than Sel.”
Known affectionately as Long Beach’s beloved “Kid’s Doctor” for more than five decades, Dr. Selden C. Beebe and his wife, Sheri Gilbert Beebe. (Courtesy photo)
own affectionately as Long Beach’s beloved “Kid’s Doctor” for more than five decades. Dr. Selden C. Beebe is with his father, Dr. Edson Beebe, in this undated photo. (Courtesy photo)
Known affectionately as Long Beach’s beloved “Kid’s Doctor” for more than five decades. Dr. Selden C. Beebe wears his customary Hawaiian shirt in 2018 with a patient, 2-year-old Bodhi Collado. (Courtesy photo)
Selden Beebe in his 1956 Stanford graduation photo. (Courtesy photo)
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Known affectionately as Long Beach’s beloved “Kid’s Doctor” for more than five decades, Dr. Selden C. Beebe and his wife, Sheri Gilbert Beebe. (Courtesy photo)
Beebe’s extraordinary life will be celebrated from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at the Old Ranch Country Club, 3901 Lampson Ave., in Seal Beach. Beebe died from multiple health issues Sept. 26, just two weeks after his 91st birthday. He had retired at 86 on Valentine’s Day in 2021 to spend more time with his family.
“His life was one measured not in years alone, but in children comforted, families strengthened, miles traveled, memories made and love shared,” said his son, Jason, a special education teacher at Hughes Middle School in Long Beach.
When Beebe retired, accolades poured in from parents who called him “an amazing person,” “super with my child,” “a calming influence” and “the best doctor in the world.”
Memories indeed.
Besides his private practice, Beebe was also a major figure in the city’s medical circles, serving on the boards of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital, The Children’s Clinic (now called TCC Family Health) and Tichenor Orthopedic Clinic for Children. He was also medical adviser to the Long Beach Day Nursery and an advisory board member for the Stramski Child Development Center.
“He epitomized what a pediatrician should be, helping thousands of kids and their families,” Durnin said. “He and his father and the Beebe family are part of the heritage of our town and are what makes Long Beach a great place.”
Beebe is not the first Long Beach doctor in his family. In fact, there are so many in the city’s medical history that it’s hard to keep them all straight.
Selden Campbell Beebe, whose life is being celebrated next week, was born Sept. 13, 1934, in Porterville. His father, Edson Beebe, was a doctor who eventually moved his family to Long Beach. Edson Beebe had a brother, Selden R. Beebe, who also was a general practitioner. To make it a little more confusing, Selden C. Beebe had a brother, Edson Beebe Jr., who was a dentist.
“We sometimes got confused ourselves,” the pediatrician Beebe joked when he retired.
Beebe grew up in Long Beach, attending Burbank Elementary, Jefferson Middle and Wilson High schools. He wanted to be a doctor at an early age, like his father.
“I respected him and revered him so much,” he said in an interview when he retired.
But he also loved golf. As his high school graduation neared, he was torn between going on the golfing tour or attending college.
“My father did a shrewd thing,” Beebe said. “He said, ‘I’ll give you $2,000 to go on the golfing tour or I’ll pay your way to Stanford University so you can be a doctor. It’s your choice.”
He chose Stanford.
After graduation from college, Beebe joined the U.S. Army in 1956, serving in the medical corps. When he was discharged, he applied for medical school at six universities on the East Coast.
He hitchhiked in uniform to Florida and went up the coast, winding up choosing Boston University. He also ended up as senior class president and valedictorian.
While at Stanford, he fell in love with Sheri Gilbert, whose grandfather was Tim Harriman, a Long Beach City Council member in the 1920s. She also happened to be a patient of Selden’s father.
They eloped to Las Vegas and got married Aug. 9, 1958. She died July 27, 2023, two weeks from their 65th anniversary.
After getting married, Beebe and his wife drove to Boston, where he graduated from the Boston University School of Medicine. In 1962, they returned to Southern California, where he completed his internship and residency at Los Angeles County General Hospital. In 1968, he opened his own pediatric practice in Long Beach.
By this time, he and his wife had two children, Jason Beebe and Alecia Bennett, a pediatric nurse. He has four grandchildren: Erica Beebe, Shannon Beebe, Jacob Bennett and Brandon Bennett.
Why did Beebe choose to be a pediatrician?
“I just loved greeting children and wanted to make a specialty of pediatrics,” he said when he retired. “It has been so satisfying.”
To put children at ease, he decided early on to wear Hawaiian shirts to avoid the “white coat syndrome” that causes blood pressure to rise in many patients.
“I’ve always felt that a sense of humor and laughter can be healing,” he said. “If I can lighten up a child from the get-go, I think it helps. Most children have some kind of anxiety going to a doctor’s office, so it’s important to gain their trust by interacting with them in some way.”
A personal note here: When my wife and I moved to Long Beach in 1978 and I started working at the Press-Telegram, we went looking for a pediatrician for our then-1-year-old daughter. Beebe was highly recommended. My wife called his office but was told that he could not take on any more patients at that time.
We got another recommendation for Dr. Marvin Zamost, a family practitioner, whom we went to and whom we had been seeing for 46 years until he retired in early January this year.
When I mentioned Zamost to Beebe, he noted that his father, Edson Beebe, mentored many young doctors at the Family Practice Program at Long Beach Memorial, including Zamost, who interned there. Beebe said that Zamost spoke at his father’s funeral, telling mourners that he entered family practice because he wanted to be like Edson Beebe. Small world.
Among the many fans of Dr. Beebe is his granddaughter, Erica.
“I attended Wilson High and played water polo all around Southern California,” Erica said when her grandfather retired. “When my last name was mentioned, it was typically followed by the question, ‘Any chance you’re related to the pediatrician, Dr. Beebe?’ I was always proud, and still am, to say that, ‘Yes. He is my grandfather!’ ”