Lois Ann Beck Cerney

Graveside Service: 1:00 p.m. Monday, June 8th at the grave site of Moore Memorial Gardens on Randol Mill Rd. in Arlington. Visitation: 12:00-1:00 p.m. Monday, June 8th at Moore Funeral on 1214 N. Davis Dr. in Arlington.

Memorials : In lieu of flowers being sent, a donation to Fielder Church in Arlington (formally Fielder Road Baptist Church) may be made.Lois Ann Beck Cerney was born on November 27, 1925 in San Angelo to Hosea Verona Beck and Annie Viola Payne. The family later moved to Harriet, Lexington and then Houston. She attended Milby High School in Houston with her best friend, Jo Marie and graduated in 1943. After high school, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1950, majoring in english and philosophy at Rice University, and a Master of Education in 1955, majoring in elementary education. Lois worked at Shell Oil in the drafting department after graduating from Rice University, then taught 3rd grade and Brookline Elementary School in Houston 1950-52. She met her future husband, Thomas Patrick Cerney, who was friends with her brother, Lowell and she and Tom were married December 23, 1951 (the same month and day her grandmother was married). They moved to New York for Tom’s job, then to Pasadena, California where he started with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)/NASA as an electrical engineer. Lois worked at Palm Crest Elementary School teaching 4th grade for 4 months in 1956 before taking maternity leave. They had 3 children, Elaine Michelle Cerney, Eric Alan Cerney and John Lowell Cerney all born in Los Angeles, California. In 1969,Tom took a job at LTV and the family moved to Texas They had a home built in Arlington in the Woodland Park Edition. Lois went to work at Pantego Christian Academy in Pantego teaching kindergarten from 1972-76. From 1976-78, she did substitute teaching for the Arlington Independent School District (AISD). In 1978, she was hired fulltime with the AISD and taught 1st grade at Berry Elementary until 1980. She then moved to Dunn Elementary School just a few blocks from her home October 4, 1980 and taught 4th grade. She retired from AISD May 26, 1995 at the age of 69 years. Her social interests included memberships in The Newcomers Club, American Association of University Woman (AAUW), The Arlington Woman’s Club, going to the Fort Worth Symphony, traveling to Europe, Israel and Alaska, playing the piano, singing in the church choir, going antiquing with lunch in the tea rooms, reading books, and spending time with friends and family. She also obtained her Amateur Radio Operators license, call sign W5TWV (Tom’s was W5RWZ), She enjoyed attending the monthly luncheon at the Rose Garden Tea Room in Arlington with the retired Dunn Elementary School teachers, going on trips and events with them in her “fun mobile” (her 1977 ford van). She was a member of First Baptist Church of Arlington, Pantego Bible Church, then Fielder Road Baptist Church and enjoyed singing in the choir. A Special thanks to Doris Holland for picking Lois up to go to the monthly “Ladies of Leisure” luncheon with the retired Dunn Elementary teachers, Joy Crossnoe for going to the Symphony with Lois, and Docia Thompson, for being such a good neighbor. Lois was a kind, caring and generous woman always thinking of others before herself and she will be missed by many family and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband of 34 years in 1986, Thomas Patrick Cerney, father, Hosea Verona Beck, mother, Annie Viola Payne Beck, brother, Hosea Verona Beck, Jr., brother, Garner Wade Beck, father in law, Walter Frank Cerney (Cerny), and mother in law, Marilla Flavia DeNio Cerney. Survivors : Daughter, Elaine Michelle Cerney; sons, Eric Alan Cerney (Kim); John Lowell Cerney (Theresa); grandsons, Tom Walt Cerney, Blake Cerney, Jimmy Cerney, brothers, Lowell Leon Beck (Robbie Lynn); Horace Preston Beck (Lucy); sister, Wilma Kathryn Beck, sister in laws, Jo Marie Beck; Evelyn (Effie) Beck and many nieces and nephews.