Jean C. Beck

Jean Marion Cranston Beck, aged 93, died peacefully on December 11, 2017, at St. Mary's Manor, Lansdale, PA. The many years of struggle with dementia and Alzheimer's could not rob her rare spirit, as glimpses of her sharp wit and gentle nature remained to the last. Jean started her remarkable life on January 18, 1924 in Wilkes-Barre, PA, as the fourth and only surviving child of Robert MacMillan Cranston and Jessie Black Evans.

Jean resided in Kingston, PA until the untimely death of her father in 1934, when she and her mother moved in with family in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Jean belonged to the Girl Scouts, Girl Reserves and was a member of First Presbyterian Church. She enjoyed swimming, playing the cello, singing in an acapella choir, taking trips to Ocean Grove, NJ and travelling by car to California in 1939 with her mother and Aunt Lena.

Jean graduated from James Coughlin HS in Wilkes-Barre in 1942 then entered the Pennsylvania State University that same year where she studied Hospital Dietetics. She was President of the Gamma Epsilon chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha junior year at Penn State. It was during this time that Jean met the love of her life on a blind date, July 14, 1943. The following year, Jean married Franklin Horne Beck on July 8, 1944 at First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Jean and Frank started their married life together in Hanford, Washington as part of the war effort. Frank was employed as a scientist for the Manhattan Project and Jean worked in the Hanford Station Mail Room. Following their stay in Hanford, Jean and Frank settled in Columbus, Ohio where a faculty position had opened in the Department of Metallurgical Engineering at The Ohio State University. Jean belonged to a number of organizations including The University Women's Club and the University Antiques Group.

Jean and Frank had three children - Franklin Horne Beck, Jr., Robert Cranston Beck and Marian Louise Beck. Frank and Jean celebrated 64 years of marriage before Frank passed away in 2008. Her eldest son, Frank Jr. passed away in 2015. She is survived by her daughter Marian and son-in-law Mark Smith, her son Robert, a daughter-in-law Nancy Beck, a granddaughter Sarah (Adam) McCauley, a grandson Andy (Allayn) Beck and her three great-granddaughters, Olivia and Rosemary McCauley and Scarlett Beck.

Memorial gifts may be made to Hilarity For Charity, Alzheimer's Association or Penn State University Nutritional Sciences.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Schoedinger Northwest Chapel, Columbus, OH with interment at Union Cemetery.