Bill always had a joke for every occasion and liked to leave you laughing. No different in his death, he still wants you to have a laugh.
The funeral for William “Bill” Beck, 86, will be 10 a.m. today, April 16, 2013, at First United Methodist Church, officiated by Rev. Jim Hill. Burial will follow in Hennessey Cemetery under the direction of Cordry-Gritz Funeral Home.
Bill was born in Benedict, Kan., on July 9, 1926, to Bert Dee and Gladys Louise Wilson Beck.
Bill was always told they pulled him out of a pig sty thinking he was a baby pig, and when they got him cleaned up, sure enough, he was baby Bill. He died Saturday, April 13, 2013, at his home in Hennessey.
Bill enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 18, and served in WWII and Korea.
He married Edna Lorraine Yockey on July 18, 1952, in Chanute, Kan. The couple lived in several oil field towns in Kansas and Oklahoma before moving to Hennessey in 1961.
He started Beck Pump & Supply in Hennessey in 1967, and later started Beck Oilfield Supply, Ranger Trucking and Beck Resources with his sons, which today employs over 100 people in three states.
Bill was a member of First United Methodist Church, VFW, American Petroleum Institute and Hennessey Country Club.
He is survived by his wife, Edna of the home; three sons, Terry Beck and wife Denise, Tim Beck and wife Debi Dawn, and Tracy Beck, all of Enid; four grandchildren, Cory Beck and wife Melissa, Kacy Beck and fiancé Tom Kish and Jennifer Beck; grandson, Matthew Crawford; two sisters, Barbara Bunn of Conyers, Ga., and Betty Krone of Chanute, Kan.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Bert Beck Jr. and Ben Beck; and one sister, Beverly White.
Memorial donations may be made to Wounded Warriors or American Cancer Society, with the funeral home serving as custodian of the funds.
(Submitted by family)