Berenice Bertha Beggs (1887-1978), a native of Moberly, Missouri, graduated from Moberly High School in 1906 and then taught in a rural school for two years before beginning her own college education at the First District Normal School (later Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, now Truman State University) in 1908. That year she began working for the Moberly schools, teaching elementary grades, from 1908 to 1916; junior high, from 1916 to 1921; and high school, from 1922 to 1927.

After attending college on a part-time basis for 14 years, Berenice completed a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1922 and immediately began work on a Master of Arts at George Peabody College for Teachers, completing it in 1927. She then joined the faculty at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College as an Assistant Professor of Education (1927-1932) and Assistant Professor of English (1932-1957).

Berenice was a poet as well as author of elementary level educational materials. Her works include "Little Folks Poetry Kit," published 1934, and "Education Marches On: An Educational Revue, 1867-1942," a pageant produced by Northeast's Department of Education in 1942. She continued contributing to professional journals after retirement and stayed active as a consultant to the English curriculum committee for Moberly Schools. She was a member of the American Association of University Women, the Missouri Teachers Association and Kappa Delta Pi, education honorary society. The Berenice B. Beggs Memorial Scholarship for pre-elementary education majors was established at Northeast after her death.