Doris Mae Beckman

She was an unfalteringly-loyal mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and wife. She loved animals, traveling, reading, and visiting with family and friends. She was an accomplished seamstress and a wonderful cook. She was always on the go and rarely sat still, working hard when required and enjoying fun times as much as possible. She lived within 2 different millennia, 2 different centuries, 11 different decades, 6 different states, 16 different towns, and more than 28 different homes.

Doris was born on October 3, 1928, to Eugene and Lily (Miller) Thomas. She grew up on a farm in the wooded hills near New Bloomfield, Mo., with her mother, father, and sister, Cecil, during the Great Depression. Times were hard back then, but she learned valuable skills that she used later in life. She milked the cows, helped raise food in the garden, learned to sew by making dresses out of flour sacks, and learned to cook hearty, home-style food.

She attended a one-room schoolhouse several miles away from their home. She rode a black Shetland pony named Beauty to school from the age of six until she outgrew him at about eleven. She taught the pony to crawl under fences so she could cut across pastures. If it started to get dark on her way home, she rode flat out. Neighbors who caught a glimpse of her flying past said she rode so fast, the pony’s belly almost touched the ground. Her other partner in crime was her little terrier. He was white with black and brown spots, and his name was Snidelum. No one knows where she got the name.

She attended New Bloomfield High School while many of her cousins were fighting in World War II. She graduated in 1946 and attended the University of Missouri in Columbia for a year, obtaining a certificate in teaching. She then taught school for a year in a one-room schoolhouse near Fulton, Mo. One of her fantasy jobs was to be a stewardess. However, in the late 1940s, the minimum height requirement for a stewardess was 5' 5". Doris was only 5' tall, at best. She was very disappointed because she really wanted to travel.

While living in Fulton in 1949, she met her husband, John (Jack) Beckman, and they were married on May 6, 1950. Jack worked various jobs for the first few years of their marriage, and their first daughter, Jacky was born in Fulton in 1951. The family moved to Montevideo, Minn., then to New Ulm, Minn., and then back to Fulton. Jack started his first job as a city manager in Guttenberg, Ia., in 1957. From there, his city management career took the family many places, including Centralia, Mo., where they were living when their son, John, was born in 1959 (he was born at the nearest hospital, in Mexico, Mo.); Louisburg, Tenn.; Excelsior Springs, Mo., where their daughter, Joann (Jodi), was born in 1967; Coachella, Calif.; Maquoketa, Ia.; Oelwein, Ia.; and lastly, Pratt, Kan.

Doris did not mind this nomadic lifestyle. On the contrary, she always embraced the excitement of moving to a new town, immediately learning as much as possible about the history of the area and the layout of the town. History and maps fascinated her. She often read historical novels, and maps were a staple in her library. Atlases were replaced as soon as they were outdated. She taught her kids how to read maps at an early age, and also how to refold them properly, if they ever wanted to look at them again. Her favorite of all the places she lived was, without a doubt, California. She frequently talked about how much she loved living there and had not wanted to move away.

With their children born eight years apart, Doris stayed home and took care of her family for the better part of three decades. She cooked, cleaned, raised food in a garden, made the children’s clothes, and taught them to read and write before they started kindergarten. Doris and Jack loved pets, and the family always had at least one dog, which traveled with them wherever they went. Their pets were part of the family, and they took them with them when they moved.

Doris acted as her husband’s personal secretary, typing his resumes and cover letters. They sent out dozens of them a year, applying for city management jobs, so that Jack could advance in his career. While living in Excelsior Springs in the mid-1960s, before Jodi was born, she worked in the City clerk’s office, auditing old tax books. She enjoyed the historical aspect of this job. In 1976, at the age of 48, she decided she wanted a career of her own. She went to work in a nursing home and became a Certified Nurse’s Aide, and then later, a Certified Medication Aide. She worked nights so that she could be home with her family during the day.

Her husband, Jack, died in 1986, and Doris returned home to Fulton. There, she worked in nursing homes, at the SERVE Senior Citizen’s Center, at the Callaway County Extension Office, and for the U.S. Census Bureau during the 1990 Census. She took care of her mother, Lily, for the last few years of her life. After Lily died in 1994, Doris moved to Lexington, Mo., and then Westmoreland, Kans., to be closer to her son, John, and daughter, Jodi. While in Westmoreland, she worked for Green Thumb, traveling throughout northeast Kansas, finding jobs for senior citizens at non-profit organizations.

In 1997, she moved in with her daughter, Jodi, and her husband, Paul Branson, in Manhattan, Kans. There, Doris worked at Mercy Health Center as a clerical assistant in the billing department for several years. During the four years Jodi attended veterinary medical school, Doris took her to school every morning on her way to work, and then picked her up on her way home. In 2003, the family moved to St. Joseph, Mo. Over the next few years, Doris continued to do clerical work for various non-profit organizations in St. Joseph.

Doris loved to travel, mostly by car. During her life, she put hundreds of thousands of miles on vehicles, traveling to Yellowstone National Park, Niagara Falls, Wisconsin, California, Iowa, Minnesota, Arkansas, the Gulf Coast, Texas, Washington D.C., and the Grand Canyon. She made numerous trips to Colorado to visit her daughter, Jacky, and her family. In 1997, she took Jodi and Paul on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska (by airplane), where they stayed with her nephew and his wife, Ron and Nila Shriver.

In her late 80s, Doris developed dementia and began to forget much of the wonderful life she had lived. However, she always recognized her children. She remembered her last dog, Patches. She remembered the old farm where she grew up near New Bloomfield. She remembered her mom, dad, and sister. She spoke often of her pony, Beauty. And she frequently told nursing home staff, “I’m going to check out of this motel, get in my car, and drive home to Fulton.”

Doris is survived by her daughters, Jacky (Richard) Shook of Broomfield, Colo., and Jodi Branson (Thomas Hernandez) of St. Joseph, Mo.; grandchildren Guenevere Shook, Richard B. (Kathleen) Shook, Heather Beckman, John S. Beckman, Victoria Beckman, Michael Beckman, Nicholas Beckman; and nine great-grandchildren.

Doris was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Beckman; her son, John C. Beckman; her sister, Cecil Shriver; her brother-in-law, Jay Shriver; and her son-in-law, Paul Branson.

Visitation will be on Friday, June 12, 2020, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Debo Funeral Home, 833 Court St., Fulton, MO. Funeral services will be on Saturday, June 13, 2020, at 10:00 am at Debo Funeral Home, with Pastor Stephen Nelson, of Dixie Christian Church, officiating. Burial will be in Callaway Memorial Gardens, Fulton, MO. The family will be hosting a dinner following the service at 12:30 pm (the location is to be determined).

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Friends of the St. Joseph Animal Shelter, c/o Debo Funeral Home, 833 Court St, Fulton, MO 65251.

Online condolences may be made at www.debofuneralhome.com