She met Hawaii's future governor John A. Burns during a picnic at Hanauma Bay, when he was a college student.

She was born February 20, 1906, in Sumpter, Oregon, to teachers Thomas Stanton Van Fleet and Bessie Majors.

[4] When the Great Depression affected jobs at the pineapple cannery, they joined her parents working on a farm in Mendocino County, California.

[6] While pregnant in 1935, Beatrice became ill with poliomyelitis during her final trimester and delivered a premature son, William, who died within hours.

Advised by her doctors to abort the fetus, she and Jack opted for alternative treatment from Seishiro Okazaki of the Nikko Sanatorium of Restoration Massage in Honolulu.

She entertained political wives with small gatherings in the apartment,[12] as her husband put his legislative efforts towards helping Hawaii achieve statehood.

[17] She was an active First Lady of Hawaii during all three of his terms as governor, hosting diplomats and legislators, and planning her children's weddings.

[2] Unlike their family home, Beatrice managed a household staff in the governor's residence of Washington Place.

[18][1] At the March 1968 National Governors Conference in Washington D. C., the wives went with Lady Bird Johnson to a planting of dogwood trees on the Potomac River.

[19] As they approached Jack's third gubernatorial term in 1970, Beatrice reflected with satisfaction on her overhaul of the landscaping at Washington Place.

Her request for help on the lawn and gardens was met by unpaid citizens of Hawaii who regularly worked on the gubernatorial landscaping for years.

[2] Their son Jim became Chief Judge of Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals and president of the American Judicature Society.