Alumni, we asked for your help solving a mystery — and four of our own helped us solve it.

Earlier today we posted what we knew about BeaAnne McCarthy of the Class of 1980: a classmate believed she had passed away in 1998 and was buried at St. Lawrence Martyr Cemetery in Sayville under the name Beatrice Carr — but nothing we could find tied the two names together, and we don’t publish what we can’t verify.

Martin Keane, Class of 1986, went digging. Searching the Social Security records, Martin found her — listed under her married name, Carr, with the words we had been looking for: “also known as Beatrice Anne McCarthy.” One record, and the whole picture falls into place.

Here is what Martin’s research confirms. She was Beatrice Anne McCarthy, born December 18, 1961, the daughter of Gerard McCarthy and Beatrice M. Maday. “BeaAnne” — the name she went by at the Lamplighter — is simply Beatrice Anne joined together, exactly as Martin suspected. She married more than once (records also show the name Shand), and Carr was the name she carried at the end of her life. She died in April 1998 — the Social Security record gives April 15, while her gravestone record gives April 9; the records differ by a few days, but not about who she was — and she rests at St. Lawrence Martyr Cemetery in Sayville, just as Martin first told us.

So the grave in Sayville is hers, and BeaAnne McCarthy of the Class of ’80 can finally take her documented place in our remembrances. That is thanks to Martin, who wouldn’t let the question go — “this one definitely made me search harder,” he wrote — to Ginger Farrell, who provided some valuable clues, and to Dean Strong and Glenn Bender, whose personal memories and information provided valuable insights. And thank you to everyone who answered our appeal.

A very special thank you to Martin Keane, Dean Strong, Ginger Farrell, and Glenn Bender for providing so much valuable information in such a short amount of time. Because of your help, we can now remember BeaAnne and, most importantly, celebrate her every year on her birthday. Thank you, everyone!

Rest in peace, BeaAnne.