Obituary of David Henry Beck

David Henry Beck, born August 26, 1937, of Oro Valley passed away suddenly due to heart failure on March 10, 2024.

Dave grew up the youngest of three children in Houston, Texas. He proudly attended Texas A&M University as an undergraduate and as a graduate student, earning one of the earliest Master of Computer Science degrees in 1967. Dave forever after served as a font of Aggie enthusiasm and trivia regarding Aggie accomplishments. He faithfully attended Aggie musters and cheered for their football team. As an undergraduate, he served in the Corps of Cadets and went into the Air Force when he graduated in 1959. He served in Niagara Falls; Wiesbaden, Germany; and at the Pentagon. From there he moved to Lowry Air Force Base (AFB) in Denver, Colorado; served as Exchange Officer in the Royal Air Force in England; attended Air War College at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama; went to Scott AFB in Illinois; and then back to Lowry AFB, Colorado, at the finance center, where he retired in 1985 as a full colonel.

In 1962, he married the beautiful Bettie Lemmon, who was a flight attendant for TWA. Their daughter, Hope, was born in 1966, and son, David, was born in 1971. The family remained in Denver, living in the Dam West, where they were famous for their three-story pine tree decorated in lights for the holidays. Following Bettie’s death in 2004, Dave met recent widow, Kathy Kennedy, and they married in 2007, blending their families of adult children. For many years, the couple spent summers in Kathy’s Dam West house in Denver, and winters in Oro Valley in the house Dave bought near his daughter, Hope, and her family. Eventually they became full-time residents of Tucson, living the good life in the sunshine, enjoying friends and family.

Dave will be remembered as the best of men, always kind and courteous, telling the best stories. He lived his life well.

Dave is survived by his wife of nearly seventeen years, Kathy Kennedy Beck, also of Oro Valley; daughter Hope Beck Goldsmith and husband, Galen Goldsmith, of Tucson; son David Allen Beck, and wife Alison Beck, of San Diego, California; stepdaughter Jennifer “Jeffe” Kennedy, and husband David Money, of Santa Fe, New Mexico; grandchildren Brett and Henry Goldsmith of Phoenix, and Tabitha and David Riley Beck of San Diego, California; sister Marilyn Beck Fagen, of Houston, Texas. He was predeceased by his wife of forty-two years, Bettie Lemmon Beck; his brother, Reed Beck; and parents Reed and Edna Wosnig Beck.

Services will be held at Adair Funeral Home in Oro Valley on Wednesday, March 13, at 2pm, with a reception to follow at the Hilton El Conquistador Poolside Courtyard, 3:30-6:30pm.

Special thanks to the Northwest Fire District Paramedics. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Texas A&M Association of Former Students, in the name of David H. Beck. https://www.aggienetwork.com/give/onlinegiving/?sc=mainbutton