The Eulogy for Robert D. Beckett
By his children, April 6, 2019
Robert D. Beckett was many things: a son brother husband uncle teacher colleague sports-fan reader story-lover grandpa friend and philologist. The English instructor in him would look at the previous sentence and either recognize it as free verse or gently suggest it needs commas and grammar work. He came with growing family to Springfield in ’63 to teach English at SMS. He was surrounded by family when he left this life April 2, 2019.
Over the years “Doc” Beckett taught many sections of E. Comp. at Southwest Missouri State (now known as MSU). He was often seen at home grading a pile of papers with a college basketball or football game on the TV in front of him. He not only was a sports fan of the SMS Bears, for decades he was the well-recognized PA announcer voice of the Bears football and basketball games. His lucky kids were sometimes tasked with being spotters at games so he could accurately report who got the tackle or assist.
Dr. Beckett self-identified as a college teacher. He was dedicated to his teaching profession. In addition to the sections of Freshman English (E.Comp.), he taught Shakespeare and Chaucer, Renaissance literature, drama (English and American playwrights), and expository writing. He was known to recite Chaucer in Middle English at the dinner table. Although squirmy kids may not have understood the content of the Canterbury Tales, (and considering the content, it might be best if grade-school kids did not), his children certainly understood the enthusiasm, humor, suspense and rhythm conveyed in good story telling.
Bob Beckett developed a Canadian literature studies program for SMSU around 1990. He appreciated Canadian Hugh Hood’s talents as an author, and their long friendship was punctuated with regular discourse about whether the Canadiens or Red Wings were better. As part of his Canadian literature scholarship and teaching, he interviewed luminaries Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Mordecai Richler, Robertson Davies, among others.
Dr. Beckett not only taught plays, he graded student performances for the theatre department. He enjoyed campus concerts and plays with his wife, Muriel. He often took children to see (free) dress-rehearsals for Tent Theater or ($1 a seat) Craig Hall performances. He was active in university governance, department service, and educational improvement. For example, he served in the Faculty Senate for many years, including a term as President. He advanced academic standards by being an accreditation site-visitor for other colleges. “Doc” was known to be a ferocious player in pick-up basketball games at the SMS gym, playing with students half his age. When elbows to his ribs and ankle sprains took their toll, he switched to racquetball, jogging, and then walking. With 35 years of dedicated service, Doc Beckett retired in 1998. At the time of his retirement, a scholarship fund was established in his name (and it is still active at the MSU Foundation).
It is his virtuoso 1000-word epistolary writing most valued by family and friends. He was a frequent correspondent with his six-paragraph single-spaced letters. Each contained information in a cheery, considerate and funny fashion. Letters were typed with no mistakes on both sides of a standard sheet. And then, as an early tech adopter, they were done on a computer and home printer.
This is the classic Bob Beckett two-page letter format: thinking about you; reply to questions or last message from you; what he and Muriel were doing in past week or so; weather and house chores; pass along family news; what is going on soon or what he has to do today; and sending hugs and kisses in closing. If it was an especially busy time, a handwritten post-script might wind along the left or right margin. They were awesome.
Bob Beckett was born in Detroit in 1934. He enjoyed city-kid activities such as radio serials, books and spending all day Saturday at the local movie theater with his sister Audrey. His family moved to Armada, Michigan at the end of his elementary school years. He graduated high school at the age of 16. Despite wearing glasses and having a scrawny physique, he was on his high school football and basketball teams. He also played clarinet in the school band. Up until a couple years ago, he kept in regular contact with his high school friends. In high school he met his future wife Muriel, who went to Romeo High.
He worked his way through the University of Michigan. He interrupted his studies after his sophomore year to “volunteer to be drafted for Korea.” At first, he was assigned to tank repair training. While his mechanical skills were weak, he made it known that he could type well. After the stint as company clerk at Ft. Knox, Bob returned to Michigan to work, to marry Muriel in 1956, and then finish his BA and MA in English at the University of Michigan.
Bob and Muriel, with four kids in tow, headed to Boulder where Bob took numerous jobs to support his family while in graduate school. He was working full time on his PhD in English Literature at the University of Colorado. He spoke with gratitude and practicality of the benefits of the GI bill. He was less enamored with baling hay, hospital-orderly work, or teaching English to junior high kids.
When the eight Becketts moved to Springfield, they lived in a house on Kings and Grand that was directly across from the stadium. Luckily, the cannon booming from touchdowns did not disturb domestic peace. Single colleagues were invited to Thanksgiving dinners. Students would stop by the house, and one proclaimed it “the Beckett home for the small.” Dad allowed kids to sprinkle that front lawn with peanuts in the shell for Santa, and the kids never figured out how he was able to make the nuts disappear. Then again, a typical kid gift for him on Father’s Day was peanuts. A more visible Christmas tradition was the nativity scenes Dad painted on the front windows; this began in Boulder and continued when they moved to the bungalow on Meadowmere. He started reading to his eight kids when they were tiny, and they shared good stuff like A.A. Milne, Ogden Nash, Rudyard Kipling, Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak.
Dad was an active parent. He did not baby-sit. He made pancakes from scratch most Sundays, and cooked many other meals, to boot. He played the Basin Street Blues on the piano and his pajama-clad kids danced with enthusiasm. There were weekly trips to the library, sport-team practices, swimming lessons and music lessons (piano, violin, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and French horn). Bob and Muriel took their kids to movies, plays, caves, zoos, and museums of art, science, and history. Dad did not miss his kid’s school performances, recitals, and competitions. Activities included: baseball, basketball, tennis, gymnastics, bowling, swimming, softball, track and field, speech, art displays, plays, musicals, instrumental recitals, music competitions, orchestra, chorus, concert band, marching band, jazz band, ensembles, parades, and nightclub performances (for Jonny on sax and Daniel on bass).
He attended every high school and college graduation of his children and grandchildren. He was proud his kids had advanced degrees. He regularly told his grandkids he was proud of their efforts and accomplishments. He encouraged curiosity and learning and trying new things. He shared a humanist and civic ethos. He liked his children’s spouses. He liked his in-laws and the in-laws of his kids, and he had interesting conversations with them all. He talked politics and consequences with his children, and he respected and admired how they developed their own views.
Sometimes the family hopped into the car for a drive in the countryside around Springfield. There were annual summer visits to family in Michigan. Other family trips included going to his commencement in Colorado or on a camping trip to the state park at Meramec. The longest expedition was the great western tour that went to see Dinosaur National Monument, the Great Salt Lake, San Francisco, Highway 1, Los Angeles, Disneyland and the Grand Canyon. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s these trips were taken in a VW bus — holding eight kids, two adults and the dog — towing a tent trailer. The family was lucky to experience foreign travel by driving to Windsor, Canada. During summer travel in a car without air conditioning, a special treat was stopping for ice cream cones.
Once the kids were married or out on their own, Bob and Muriel were able to travel to Canada, Mexico, England, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. They also traveled throughout the US, and their destinations often involved seeing family―including his brother Jim, and wife Glenda, in Key West and his sisters in the Phoenix area. It was such good fortune when his wonderful sister Linda and her husband Russ moved to Branson this past year.
Throughout his life, Bob loved reading literature, history, and periodicals like the Atlantic or the New York Times. He liked learning and sharing this enthusiasm with his kids and students. He liked music and sang loudly (and in tune) in church. He regularly attended plays, symphonic concerts and firework displays. He enjoyed stories. This began as a child “watching” the radio and continued as watching television and going out to the movies. During retirement he played clarinet in the Springfield Community Band and the Republic Community Band. He was part of the Honor Band that played for veterans at the airport. In Springfield, he was involved in civic events, the Greene County Democratic Central Committee and the Senior Democrats of the Ozarks. (At various times these could be drama, comedy or tragedy.)
Robert D. Beckett is survived by his devoted wife, seven children and their spouses, thirteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. If you said something about having great grandkids to him, he would be quick to say that all of his kids and grandkids are great. (The children and their spouses are: Amy (Monte), Julie (Keith), Tim (Nancy), Peter (Janice), Jonny (Penné), Laura (Gary), and Greg (Dan).) He also leaves behind a sister, a brother, many friends and family. He was predeceased by beloved son Daniel, a sister and a brother.
Bob Beckett knew that it is a challenge to sum-up a life. He left it to his children to limn his life (draw a picture with words) and let them bring the highlights and memories together. Bob Beckett was a big fan of puns and word humor. He did his New York Times crossword puzzles in ink. He liked good writing; this included using words appropriately and considering how sentences sound. This essay tries to follow his style advice to use short, clear sentences. This brings us back to the beginning hook and lead to this essay: philologist. Dad would tell us he was a philologist. This particular word means a lover of words.