Richard Monroe Beck SR, age 71 of Copperas Cove-Kempner TX passed away October 6, 2019 of a heart attack at the Advent Health Hospital Emergency Room at 11:51 a.m., in Killeen TX. He persevered through his coronary heart disease and COPD for years. He fought a hard fight with dignity.
Richard was born to George E Beck SR and Irene M Gardner on June 29, 1948 in Wichita Falls TX.
Richard is remembered as a good man, loving father and devoted husband. He has always been a kind, decent, honest and moral man. He excelled in integrity, honor, family values, selflessness, forgiveness and compassion.
Richard instructed family to not hold memorial services, instead cremate his body and spread his ashes under every tree he planted in his yard, especially his Grand Children Memory Trees. His family will respect his instructions.
Richard served honorably for 20 years in US Army and retired as a Master Sergeant, and a VietNam War Veteran. He worked in the Motor Pool as a mechanic, mostly on tanks.
Richard was a life-long resident of Copperas Cove-Kempner TX. Mr. Beck was owner-operator of Becks Exxon Service Station on Hwy 190 in Copperas Cove. He worked as a mechanic on Fort Hood for Contractors Raytheon and L3.
Richard was preceded in death by: son Richard M Beck JR; son Earl Lester “Buzz” Beck; son B Shoen Arnold; mother Irene M Gardner; mother-in-law Jimmie W Catlett; sister Virginia Wood; sister Patricia Caddell; sister-in-law Joy Roush; loving companions Sissy, Rex and LilBit.
Survivors include his wife of 25 years Julia M “Judy” Beck; son B Shane Arnold; daughter-in-law Kimberly Beck; daughter-in-law Janee Beck; sister Jimmie Beavers, brother-in-law Les Beavers; father-in-law James J Catlett, brother-in-law Michael R Clemmer, sister-in law Kathy Clemmer; brother-in-law Dave Roush. Grand Children: Ashlee N Brookshire, her husband TC Brookshire; Garrett C Beck; Mia Bella Arnold, Owen J Arnold. Great-Grand Children: C Maddison Brookshire, Lane C Brookshire, T Colt Brookshire. Loving companions: his girls Silkiey and Sandy. Family calling him Uncle Monroe: Nieces, Nephews, and Cousins. His Blended family-called him “Papa”, they are: Alana Pounders, Maranda L Rippee, her husband Nathan, Rainey C Pounders, Sterling S Prazak; Drew A Dekort, Brooklynn D Dekort. Family and Friends.
R. MONROE Beck enlisted in the US Army hours before his 17th birthday. He had to wait in a small room until he actually turned 17 years old to be sworn in and get on bus. Shortly thereafter, instead of MONROE all the guys were calling him MARILYN (referring to Marilyn Monroe). He was a jokester and could take a joke, but he found no humor there. He used RICHARD as his given name from then on (except for his family, of course).
BECKS EXXON was a full service station. Mr. Beck cleaned your windshield then checked your wiper blades, tires, oil and water, brake fluid, transmission fluid, power steering fluid and pumped your gas. Customer did not have to get out of their vehicle. In pouring down rain, and cold winters Mr Beck greeted each of his customers with a greeting and a smile. Many of his lady customers would bring him home-baked cakes, pies, cookies, etc, just about every day. The home-baked goodies at Christmas time were amazing!
Mrs. R H called the station “Becks Day Care” because, if you were looking for your husband, he was probably at BECKS. Every morning the office would be full of coffee drinking hard working men: contractors, painters, framers, brick mason, roofers, etc. All these working men knew where the coffee and water was located and took turns “making another pot”. These working men were back again in the afternoon, “making another pot”. The office was always full of these guys telling their stories, truths and lies.
Mr. Beck was also a mechanic at BECKS EXXON, had a two bay shop, and was often repairing flat tires, working on brakes, turning brake rotors, changing oil, oil filter and air cleaner, rebuilding motors, working on air conditions in the summer and heaters in the winter. His regular cash customers would pump their own gas, ring up sale on cash register, make change, and his charge customers would pump their own gas, fill out charge slip, ring up sale on register and both would holler on the way out of the office into the shop “Have a nice day Mr Beck”. Christmas party was pot luck, bring your favorites to share and Santa (Mr W) brought joy and laughter to the kids.
A young man that worked at the prison in Gatesville, would spend his days off at Becks Exxon, to spend time with Mr Beck and to help him anyway he could. Mr Beck would tell him “you do not need to be here, you need to be home doing your yard work”. The young man would smile and say “I finished my yard work yesterday after work, so I could come here to see you and lend you a hand”. Mr Beck touched many hearts and many touched his.
Richard had a love for all living things, especially flowers, plants, trees and furry animals.
He was a treasure finder, but he did not always hunt for treasure, it often found him. His trove included red/white fishing bobbers, fishing line, rocks, plants, yard ornaments and recipes.
He was always up for a good adventure. He was never in a hurry to get to the destination. He almost never took an interstate road, taking the back roads looking for whatever the area had to offer. He was never lost; he was always exploring. His Motor Home trips with Judy, Jimmie, Silkiey, and Lil Bit then Sandy: Travels from Texas to Florida, Virginia Beach, Indiana, Arkansas and California (and states traveled in-between) are classic.
Richard was a Hobby Enthusiast. HUGE DIY GUY, SELF TAUGHT. Very creative mind, built and shared from his heart. He built clocks, miniature guitar speakers, pen and pencil sets, wine bottle stoppers, yard ornaments, shelving units, Adirondack chairs, balls/bats/gloves storage stands, etc, using various types of woods. He built and drove remote control cars; built and flew remote control airplanes and drones. And of course, he built model tanks.
He restored a 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 2 dr, traveled to car shows, class entered: ORIGINAL. Each time he was hospitalized, he asked Judy to bring framed pictures of kids, grandkids, Silkiey and his 1966 Ford Fairlane to put on window shelf. He was a “FORD” man and enjoyed teasing/harassing his “Chevy” driving daughter Kim.
Richard was challenged by son Buzz to race Street Stock ¼ mile dirt track at Cen-Tex Speedway in Killeen. Among many trophies he received: 5th Place 1990, 4th Place 1991, “BEST LOOKING CAR STREET STOCK 1992”, Points Champion “FIRST PLACE STREET STOCK 1992”. His car was number 42, because the King of racing, Richard Petty, was number 43. This is where he met Judy in 1992. She was part of the pit crew for her nephew Hardy number 69, who was parked next to him in the pit.
After his heart surgery in 1999, while recuperating, his hobby became computers. At the time he had never even turned one on. He was a mechanic, ”how hard could it be”, ”could not be THAT different”. He started by figuring out how the hard drive worked, then took old and new computers apart, to figure out how they worked. He then taught himself to use computer and all kinds of software. He built computers for family and friends. After learning about software, here came the pictures! On his computer he has scrolling desk top screens for each child, grandchild, and great-grandchild. He created files for each child, and then within those files are individual folders for grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Within those folders, broken down further by holidays, birthdays, trips, sports, reunions, cookouts, family events, life events, OH MY, it goes on and on. He documented ANYTHING AND EVERYING, very organized. He loved his picture memories.
He was buying his grandson computer games for his Xbox at $60 a pop, almost every week-end. So he went to his new friend the computer and found World of Warcraft. Online subscription was much easier on his wallet, but not on his sleep deprivation. WOW computer game, kept the man that went to bed at 8 pm every night, up until 4 am too many mornings, when he had to be at work by 7 am! He had to “level up” to keep ahead of his grandson, who had hours of spare time. There was no way he was going to let his grandson Garrett pass him.
After he finally retired for the third time, his hobby became cooking. He found most of his recipes from online apps and those church ladies who brought their signature dish for all occasions. Family and friends looked forward to eating his creations from his crock pot: beef roast, chicken and dumplings, corned beef and cabbage, 15 beans with sausage; from the deep fryer: fried catfish, fried shrimp; from the oven: ham and potato casserole, Mexican lasagna, hamburger casserole, taco casseroles, cream cheese enchiladas, classic chicken pot pie, tuna casserole; from the outside grill using charcoal and mesquite wood: rib eye steaks, pork chops, pork ribs, fresh vegetables. Then we have his famous: millionaire salad, no bake cookies, bacon ranch pea salad, tortilla pin wheels, marinated vegetables, and yes, the root beer float pie. He said he started cooking his casseroles from recipes online to feed Garrett and made copies of his recipes for him as he went off to Alabama for fire fighter training.
Richard’s happy place was at the lake behind the wheel of his boat, so relaxed. Visiting with family and friends and spending time at the lake was just about the only times he was not working on something, and finally relaxed. Judy was really tired from all this yard work every week-end and asked him if they could please spend more time at the lake. For years, they would take an adventure, to explore a different lake, every other week-end, where he would finally relax. Catching and Releasing every fish he caught. Camping with family, kids and grandkids, fixing breakfast outside. Pulling the kids on skis, tubes, and wake boards. He could always get the kids to SMILE and LAUGH!
He will be greatly missed. He left all of us with loving and humorous memories. When you think of him, smile and feel the joy of your precious memories. May his memories be a comfort for you, now and forever.
Memorials may be made to the Copperas Cove Animal Shelter --where he and Silkiey found each other.
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