Edith Hale Van Beek (née Cheever) was born on November 5, 1934, in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

She was a Canadian poet, writer, and educator. She graduated from Lesley College and Columbia University and began teaching elementary school, which she did for the rest of her career. She spent a few years in Tanzania, Africa, where she helped start a college. In 1967, she met and married Johannes Van Beek (–2010) in Tanzania. In 1968, they emigrated to Ontario, Canada, where she continued teaching in Peel County. Van Beek published four books of poetry, "My Side of Fruit" (1982), "Points Of White" (1988), "Rising About Us" (1994), and "A Himalayan Mind: A Creative View of Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961)" (2000).

She died on June 14, 2019, in Orangeville, Peel County, Ontario.