Edward McGehee Beckham

Edward McGehee Beckham, 97, died peacefully in Baton Rouge on Monday, Feb. 14, 2011. He was born Aug. 13, 1913, in Memphis, Tenn., and moved to New Orleans as a young boy with his parents. The Great Depression forced his family to move for a brief time to family acreage in West Feliciana, but Mr. Beckham made it back to Baton Rouge for good in 1935. From the garage of his house, Mr. Beckham founded Capitol City Distributors, a wholesale broom and mop manufacturing company. Mr. Beckham spent a few years selling his wares store to store reaching small mom and pop grocery stores and eventually larger retail stores across the South. The Capitol Queen brooms and mops were manufactured by hand from a small shop in Baton Rouge with the best materials imported from countries across the globe. Known for its carefully handcrafted quality, the Capitol Queen line was a popular item in the old family grocery and hardware stores in Baton Rouge. After selling the business and retiring, Mr. Beckham turned his attention to the real passion of his life, hybridizing, growing and showing daylilies and amaryllis. For the next 60 years, Mr. Beckham grew and created award-winning daylilies, recognized across the globe as some of the best varietals created. His expansive yard in south Baton Rouge became a regular stop of every garden club in the South wanting to see his garden of colorful amaryllis and daylilies. Mr. Beckham hosted touring groups from across the country on a regular basis to see his amazing and original creations of color and contrast. Mr. Beckham gained many friends throughout the gardening community who traded and bought his personal creations. He founded a new business, Amaryllis Inc. that still sells high quality Amaryllis bulbs through a mail order business and to many of the same small mom and pop grocery stores that carried the Capitol Queen line of brooms and mops. "Pop," as he was affectionately known by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren is survived by his two daughters, Marjorie Beckham Gauthier, of Baton Rouge, and Sharon Beckham, of Los Altos Hills, Calif.; son-in-law Dr. Donald Gauthier; grandchildren, Michael Edward Beychok and Benjamin David Beychok and their spouses Rochelle and Lisa; and great-grandchildren, Bradley David Beychok, Matthew Beckham Beychok, Brooke Beychok, Sarah Beychok and Joshua Sheldon Beychok, all of Baton Rouge. Mr. Beckham was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Marjorie Aertker Beckham; parents E.M. Beckham Sr. and Ethel Moore Beckham; and grandson, Daniel Beckham Beychok. Visitation will be held at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government St., on Thursday, Feb. 17, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Private family interment service will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made to Hospice of Baton Rouge Butterfly Wing, 3600 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA 70806, or a charity of choice.