Pauline M. Beck, passed away February 15, 2010 at Leisure Homestead in Stafford, Kansas, following a brief illness. She was born in Galena on June 14, 1917, the middle child and only daughter of Lewis C. Hawk and Lily Maude Wilson Hawk.
She started school in Trousdale, but soon moved to Macksville, where she graduated from high school in 1935. During high school she met Ralph G. Beck, and they married December 2, 1934. They made their first home on the Beck family farm near Byers, where son Clark was born in November of 1936. When Clark was very young, the family moved to the Fish Hatchery near Pratt, where Ralph was employed, and Pauline remembered those years fondly.
In 1944 they returned to the farm, and their daughter, Lynda, was born. The couple raised their children and farmed there until Ralph’s death in 1976, after which Pauline made her home in St. John until moving to Leisure Homestead in February of 2003.
Although she had held numerous temporary and volunteer jobs during her lifetime, she did not work full-time until she was widowed. After brief employment in retail and a clerical position at the courthouse, she found her true calling as a newspaper reporter for the St. John News.
Beck had many creative talents. She taught many girls in the Byers community how to sew, as the 4-H Sewing Leader. She learned each new popular craft, and became especially skilled at ceramics. Singing was another talent. For many years the women’s trio of which shewas a member sang at church and Byers community events. As a resident of the nursing home, she once sang hymns for the other residents, from memory and without accompaniment, when the scheduled religious program cancelled.
She loved to dance. In St. John, she was the leader of the Senior Citizen Rhythm Band, which performed often in the surrounding area and won Senior Talent competitions, and she learned line dancing at the senior center. Later, she loved dancing with the children that visited the nursing home.
She was a member of the Byers Methodist Church, the Mothers’ Club, Martha Rebekah Lodge, and many other groups She was known for her beautiful smile and happy spirit, which will be greatly missed.
Her parents, Lewis and Maude; brothers, Harold and Junior, and husband, Ralph, predeceased her.
She is survived by her son, Clark and his wife, Donna, of Wichita; her daughter, Lyn and her husband, Larry D. Fenwick, of Macksville and Fort Worth, Texas; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren: Dennis Beck of Bloomington, Ind.; Shari Beck of Wichita; and Darin Beck and his wife, Sandra, and their two children, Courtney and Bailey of Wichita; brother, Robert Hawk of Hutchinson, and two sisters-in-law: Doris Beck Sharp of Corpus Christi, Texas; and Marilyn Hawk Warkentine of Newton, as well as many nieces and nephews.
Service will be 2:00 P.M., Thursday, February 18, 2010 at Minnis Chapel, St. John, with Pastor Byoung Lee presiding. Burial will be in the Farmington cemetery, Macksville.
Visitation will be on Wednesday from 1-8 P.M. with family receiving friends from 6-8 P.M. Memorials in her honor may be made to The Leisure Homestead or The Alzheimer’s Disease Association, both in care of The Minnis Chapel, Inc., 526 E. 4th, St. John, KS 67576, www.minnischapel.net
Services provided by
Minnis Chapel
526 E. 4th Avenue
St. John, Kansas 67576
(620) 549-3556
mc125@sbcglobal.net
St. John News
February 24, 2010
