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Melanie Phelps Bean
September 23, 1951- June 3, 2025
Melanie Bean was born September 23, 1951, three weeks late but waiting to be a Libra.
She grew up in Kansas City and distinguished herself academically and musically at
Southwest High School. She majored in piano performance at Stanford University
where she also solidified her love of tennis and bicycling. Melanie earned her Masters in
piano at Michigan University and then returned to the Bay area to study again with
Adolph Baller. Melanie performed in San Francisco and Chicago before moving to New
York, a city she called home. Playing chamber music and accompaniment, Melanie
made dear friends through music. She taught piano at the Hoff-Barthelson School and
privately.
Melanie’s passion for the arts included acting, writing and composing. She trained with
George DiCenzo, John Strasberg, Susan Cohen and Katharine Sergava. Her acting in
theatre, television and independent film earned her Actors’ Equity and Screen Actors
Guild membership. Melanie was a gifted writer and composer. Credits include Prospect
Theater’s Musical Theater Lab Project: Souvenir Stories, participating in the BMI
Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York, and having pieces published in
Best Contemporary Monologues for Kids, ages 7-15, and Best 5-Minute Plays for
Teens, by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. From her leading roles in high school
musicals to creating the book, music and lyrics of original shows, Melanie found
inspiration in musical theater.
Melanie had a gift for creating community spirit. She was a remarkable friend
throughout her life. She made dozens of them at the Riverside Clay Tennis Association,
a community tennis organization with over 1,000 members that maintained and
operated the red clay public tennis courts on the Upper West Side where she lived. A
long-time volunteer, gardener and board member, she was one of the organization's
more influential presidents, guiding the RCTA through an important expansion. She also
led the tenant’s association of her building through a very challenging period with great
determination, grit and aplomb.
Melanie is predeceased by her parents Albert and Molly Bean and her brother David
Bean. She is survived by her partner of 43 years, Ira Bauer, her brother Trey Bean, her
sister Kim Bean Higgins, and eight nieces and nephews lucky enough to have an Aunt
Mel.
Melanie was a plant whisperer since childhood and she developed gardens around the
Riverside tennis courts and in the backyard that she and Ira shared in Long Beach. Her
musical “Yard Sale!” includes this song:
What would we do without gardens?
They take us out of time.
What would we do without gardens?
Back to a childhood rhyme.
Breathe it in; take a minute; let the rest fall away.
Let the colors come inside you and make a better day.
What would we do without gardens?
They show us something new.
What would we do without gardens?
Just look what they can do.
Forget the losses piling up like petals on the ground.
Instead be like the vine that climbs up– up and around.
What would we do without gardens?
They change our sense of place.
What would we do without gardens?
They add a touch of grace.
A celebration of Melanie’s life will take place at a later time.
Memorial donations may be made to : Junior Tennis Foundation
2500 Westchester Ave, Suite 106, Purchase, NY 10577
https://www.towersfuneralhomeny.com/obituaries/melanie-bean
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