Opal Beck

Opal Maxine Beck was born on January 20, 1922, to Tom Van Diest and Jenny Boeve, on a farm outside of Prairie View, Kansas. She was the fourth of their five children. She grew into a bright, imaginative child who enjoyed playing with the cats on her parent’s farm (and giving them rides in her doll carriage!). After growing up in Prairie View she went on to attend Hayes State College in Kansas, and later became an elementary school teacher who was much beloved by her students. She married her husband, Kenneth Beck, in Denver, Colorado in 1943. They had three children: Shirley Nosler, Elaine Wahlquist, and Thomas Beck. Opal died peacefully at the age of 93, in her daughter Shirley’s home, on June 16, 2015. She was predeceased by her husband Kenneth, her sister Jeanette, and her brothers Roy and Wilbur. She is survived by her brother Tom, her three children, her daughter-in-law Susan Beck, her sons-in-law Max Wahlquist and Mike Nosler, and her two grandchildren Lauren Wahlquist and Stephen Beck.

No mother, grandmother, sister, or friend was ever more loved than Opal! She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

In lieu of flowers, Opal’s family requests that donations be made in her name to Metro Caring at http://www.metrocaring.org/.