{"id":5063,"date":"2016-08-21T16:45:48","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T21:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/?page_id=5063"},"modified":"2024-10-11T18:00:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T23:00:06","slug":"obituary-beckham-joseph-leonard","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/?page_id=5063","title":{"rendered":"Obituary – Beckham, Joseph Leonard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Class of 1948<\/h2>\n

1948 Maroon Spotlight\"Joe
Joe Beckham<\/h2>\n

\ufeffFootball 45-46, Baseball 46-47, D. E. Club 47-48.<\/p>\n

1948 Graduation Edition<\/br>Perry Daily Journal<\/h2>\n

Joe Beckham, 18, son of Ben Beckham of 917 Ashland street, has played football since 1941 and took part in baseball this school year at Perry high school. He hopes to work and go to college after graduation.<\/p>\n

Joe was born July 30, 1930, in Perry, and has always attended school here. He is a member of the Senior Scouts, Northwest Oklahoma Sportsmen’s association and the Distribution Education club.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Joseph Leonard Beckham<\/h1>\n

July 30, 1930 – July 12, 2016<\/h3>\n

Joseph Leonard Beckham, 85, of Perry, passed from this life on Tuesday, July 12, 2016, in Oklahoma City, OK with his loving family by his side. <\/p>\n

Joseph Leonard Beckham was born on July 30, 1930, in Perry, OK, to Ben and Alice (Foster) Beckham. He graduated from Perry High School in 1948 and enrolled at Oklahoma A&M. In 1952 he enlisted in the US Marine Corp. where he served stateside as a truck driver with the 7th Engineering Battalion during the Korean War. Following his honorable discharge in 1954, Joe returned home and enrolled at the OSU School of Business. In 1957, he began a 20 year career with the Perry Fire Dept. where he worked as a fire fighter and arson investigator.<\/p>\n

In 1964, Joe married the love of his life, Doris \u201cDodie\u201d Cantrell. Joe and Dodie spent 52 years together and had two children together, Joe and Shaunna. Desiring to better serve the community, he returned to OSU where in 1972 he received a degree from the School of Fire Protection. Joe enjoyed sharing his knowledge of fire protection. He spent several years writing for the Redbook, a fire service manual and also became a certified instructor teaching International Fire Service Training at OSU part-time. He also enjoyed having local Boy Scout troops come to his home where he taught them fire safety and first aid.<\/p>\n

Joe spent several years working as a salesman for American Fire and Equipment, selling fire engines and equipment to fire departments all over the central U.S. In 1980, Joe accepted a position as a Fire Safety Specialist with Charles Machine Works\/Ditch Witch, where he was employed for two decades before finally retiring for good in 1999.<\/p>\n

Joe Beckham was a kind man with a servant\u2019s heart. He served the citizens of Perry throughout his career, but more importantly, he served the Lord and the congregation at First United Methodist Church by being involved as a member, trustee and board member, and United Methodist Men\u2019s Ministry. He was also a member of the Perry Lions Club, Masonic Lodge, International Fire Service Assoc., and the International Assoc of Arson Investigators. Joe was a family man who enjoyed hunting, fishing, and coaching his daughter\u2019s softball team. He was never happier than when he was watching OSU Cowboy Baseball or when he was surrounded by his grandchildren.<\/p>\n

He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Ben Beckham Jr, infant sister Ruth Janet Beckham, and nephew Henry Beckham Sr.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his wife Doris \u201cDodie\u201d Beckham; two children: Joe Beckham and wife Angie of Perry and Shaunna Smith and husband David of Stillwater; A brother Jack Beckham and wife Carolyn of Tomball, TX; Eight grandchildren: Colton, Brayden, Jakob, and Audrey Beckham and Daysha, Daylon, Beckham, and Solomon Smith.<\/p>\n

Services celebrating his life will be held 2pm on Friday, July 15, 2016, at the First United Methodist Church in Perry. Burial will take place at 1pm Friday at Grace Hill Cemetery. Donations may be made in Joe\u2019s name to the FUMC for the Prayers Quilters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-FullWidth.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5063"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25710,"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5063\/revisions\/25710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}