Raymond Stone Beck

Raymond Stone Beck, 88, died on October 24, 2010, at the Stewart Health Center of Springmoor Life Care Retirement Community. He was born March 7, 1922, in Roebling, New Jersey, to George Raymond and Marie Stone Beck.

He attended schools in Roebling and Bordentown, New Jersey, and attended The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey. He arrived in Raleigh in 1942 and attended N.C. State College where he studied aeronautical engineering until he was drafted for World War II. Assigned to Army Air Corps basic training at Atlantic City, NJ, he was selected for the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at City College of New York, which he attended until called to active duty. He was a Private First Class and member of Company C, 291st Infantry Regiment of the 75th Division of the U.S. Army and trained at Camp Breckenridge, Louisiana, and at Camp Campbell, Kentucky. His unit saw action in the 1944 Battle of the Bulge in Belgium where he was wounded in action due to severe frostbite. His unit had assisted in the liberation of several Belgian villages. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and other medals and commendations. After his evacuation from Maldingen, Belgium, and a brief recuperation in England, he was transferred to the U.S. Army Convalescent Hospital at Camp Butner, NC, where he was honorably discharged in August 1945.

Through his uncle, Lee Jay Stone and wife Frances Lynn of Raleigh, he met Ethel Iris Lynn while he was a student at N.C. State. They were married in May 1945 at Millbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh. They had one son, Raymond Lynn Beck and were married for 36 years, until Ethel’s untimely death in 1982. In April 1983, he married Foye Lee Bell. They were married for 27 years.

Raymond was employed by the Horace Johnson Insurance Agency of Raleigh. In 1951, he was employed by The North Carolina Fire Insurance Rating Bureau (now Insurance Services Office) until his retirement as the Assistant Superintendent in 1981. He carpooled daily for nearly thirty years with his dear friends and co-workers Hollis Fuller (deceased) and Colvin Worth of Raleigh.

Raymond was predeceased by his parents, numerous uncles, aunts, and cousins as well as many long-time friends. He is survived by his wife, Foye Lee Kelly Bell Beck of Raleigh; his son, Raymond L. Beck, and daughter-in law Dr. Deborah Hatton Beck of Cary and Nashville, TN; a stepson, E. Ward Bell and wife Lynn of Mars Hill, NC; step-grandchildren Heather Hatton-Key and husband Christopher Key of Ridge Spring, SC, Justin Bell and wife Abby of Asheville, NC and Jason Bell and wife Meghan of Charlotte, NC. In addition he is survived by nephew Alfred E. Lynn of Wake Forest; cousins Frances Stone Sechler and husband Joseph S., Sr., of Asheville, NC and Robert Field Stockton III of Bay Head, New Jersey; and brother-in-law Louis Kelly of Raleigh.

He was a member of the William G. Hill Masonic Lodge of Raleigh and was a Sudan Temple Shriner (New Bern, NC). He was a Charter Member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church of Raleigh.

The family will receive visitors at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 27 at Mitchell’s Funeral Home, 7209 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh. The funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. at Mitchell’s with the Reverend Jay Minnick of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church of Raleigh officiating. Burial service will follow at Montlawn Cemetery on South Wilmington Street in Raleigh with the Reverend Meg Hunn of Christ Episcopal Church, Raleigh.

Memorials in Raymond’s memory may be made to Pleasant Grove UMC of Raleigh, the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital of Greenville, SC; the Masonic Orphanage of Oxford, NC; Elon University in Elon, NC, or to any charitable organization of the donor’s choice.

Condolences can be sent to the family at www.mitchellatRMP.com

Arrangements under the direction of Mitchell Funeral Home at Raleigh Memorial Park, Raleigh, NC.

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