A Message From the President

GETTING TO KNOW YOU--------ALFRED CHARLES BECK II.

  “If anything will go wrong, it will.  But I realize that in the end, the conclusion will be o.k.  It’s the impossible that is harder to deal with.  It just takes longer.” 

   Alfred Charles Beck’s philosophy comes from his long-time association with Charlie Brown and Snoopy, apparent in his Peanuts collection.  Al, as he is known by all, says that Charles Schultz’s childhood was not so happy and his challenges and disappointments are reflected in his famous cartoons.  On the other hand, Al’s childhood was mostly an idyllic one.

   Born on Christmas Day in Lakewood, Ohio in 1934, “I call on ‘J.C.’ frequently,” Al smiles.

Looking back on his life, the reader must conclude that he has some pull.

   Al’s father, John Edwin “Ed” Beck, came from a family of six boys and lived in Toledo, Ohio.  His ancestry was Prussian.  His mother, also from Toledo, was Grace Bissonette who came from a family of nine children.  One of her brothers traced their roots back to the Little Flower (St. Teresa) in France. Grace’s mother came to Toledo, Ohio from Quebec. Her mother and father were killed by an interurban train in Toledo before she and Ed were married.  When Ed proposed to Grace, he composed a romantic letter to his future father-in-law, asking for his daughter’s hand.  (The Becks have it framed in their home.)  The couple settled in Lakewood, Ohio.  His father sold Hollywood movies for Vidagraph, offering them to Mom and Pop theaters around the country.  He would meet Hollywood stars such as Mary Pickford, at conventions.

   Ed and Grace had two sons, John (Jack) and Al.  Being 12 years older, Jack was a role model to Al.  He served in WWII in the Army Signal Corps in the Philippines as a radar specialist.  A year after his return, he became a pre-med student at John Carroll University, transferring to the Long Island School of Medicine in New York.  His uncle, a professor  of obstectrics and gynocology there, was one of two who developed the Caesarian section.  Jack’s life came to an untimely end in 1949, at age 26, with Hodgkin’s disease.  That same year Al’s father died, leaving 15-year-old Al and his mother alone. 

   “Lucky I was, being like an only child, to have 18 children in my age bracket on our dead-end street (Virginia Avenue).  We put down bases on the street and played ball.  We also played lots of hide-and-seek and kick-the-can.” 

   “We had a mother up the street who, with her daughter, organized plays during summer months on a vacant lot.  They wrote the scripts and we performed for the neighborhood.  We raised money for the props with picnics where we sold food,” Al recalls.

  “In those days,” Al relates, “my friends and I hitch-hiked a lot, especially to downtown Cleveland.  Once when we were out after curfew, a cop picked us up and drove us home,” he confesses.  On Saturday afternoons, he  and his friends would go to the movies on Detroit Avenue for matinees for “two bits” or to a local bowling alley.   Family vacations took the Beck’s to Ontario, outside of Toronto, at Rice Lake and the Catskill Mountains in New York State where Al had many fond memories. 

   In grade school, after the second half of first grade, Al walked to St. Luke’s School and ran home for lunch.  His mother bought meats and produce at “Bird Town,” close to 117^th Street where shops were run by East Europeans. When he was five years old, Al purchased some baby chicks for Easter at Woolworth’s.  They were kept warm in a box under the kitchen range until his father built a pen in the backyard.  “Eventually a neighbor complained because the rooster crowed at the crack of dawn.  My Dad, after chopping off their heads, put them in hot water to pluck the feathers –and then we ate them!’  And so concludes Al’s Easter purchase.

   When the Cleveland Diocese opened St. Edward’s High School in 1949, Al’s was the first freshman class of 30 students.  The school, run by the Holy Cross Brothers, used the rooms at St. Theresa’s Academy which had closed.  The students were confined to three rooms.  In his sophomore year, the house next door was added.  By his junior year, the new building, designed by a family friend, was opened.  Al was a member of the high school band, playing the clarinet.  Next to him, also playing clarinet, was Phil Donahue of talk-show fame.  Al’s favorite subjects were physics, chemistry and math.  From the first graduating class, Al entered John Carroll.

   “Anyone graduating from our class that year had the opportunity to attend Notre Dame University, also run by the Holy Cross Brothers.  Because my mother had to live on a widow’s pension, I had to decline the offer,” Al relates. Instead, Al attended night school at J.C. and worked days at Mallory Battery (now Duracell) as a product designer, earning $325 a month.  He majored in physics.  While still at John Carroll, Al struck gold.

   College-age young people were gathering at Our Lady of Angels Parish at West Park for social activities.  It was there he met a young lady, Barbara Schmitz, from Ursuline College. “She was dating a guy who would become a fire chief in Cleveland.  But that didn’t last after she met me!” Al brags.  “We dated a couple years and were married in 1959 at her parish, St. Patrick’s in West Park.” The couple lived in a two-bedroom apartment on Rocky River Drive until their first-born, Jim, was born, moving to a W. 157^th Street apartment. 

   While at John Carroll, Al took a job with Keithley Instruments as an inside applications engineer where he remained for 15 years. He was transferred to Syracuse, N.Y. as a sales engineer.  “The University of Rochester was just developing lasers and I was selling to them for their research,” Al explains. For a while he attended  Syracuse University. Three of their five children were born there and the family lived in near-by Liverpool. The winters in Syracuse yielded 165 inches of snow.  The favorite winter sport for the Becks was skiing at a family ski resort in Cortland just south of Syracuse. In 1972 when Keithley transferred Al back to this area in Solon to become international sales manager, the family opted to move to Hudson because of the schools.  The couple built a house on Ogilby Drive, adding another child to the roster.  Unlike his childhood, Al became involved in organized sports – baseball and track -- with his children.     The family took vacations to such places as the Adirondacks and Niagara Falls. 

   In the ‘80’s, Al and Barb organized a couples’ group at St. Mary.  “It was our Friday Mom and Pop night out,” Al explains, “with about 60 people participating.  We had splash parties at Leisure Time, went to horse races with Pastor Father Wessel who is an academic.  Because the older church on the property didn’t have room to accommodate us, we had activities outside the parish.”  Al headed the fund raiser for the new office wing, the renovation of the lower hall, and the renovation of the rectory.

   After leaving Keithley, Al started a new company with his old boss in 1978 and then in 1989, formed his own company, Electronics One Associates which he sold in 2000, the year he and Barb moved to a new condo in Stow, Ohio.  A year later, Al started “Odd Job Squad” with son John.  Two years later Al started “Beck ‘N Call,” doing electrical, plumbing, and mechanical  jobs while son John carries on “Odd Job Squad,” concentrating on construction.

   The Becks travelled to Bavaria for their 25^th wedding anniversary, to England with Ursuline Alumni to see a Cleveland Brown’s exhibition game, to two world’s fairs in Montreal and Vancouver, and to Quebec.  Al’s cousin, Father Harry from Michigan, accompanied them on two of the trips.

   When Al served on the St. Mary Parish Council from 1999 to 2001, he concluded that there was a need for attention to the senior population.  He established a core committee to study the possibility of forming an organization.  Eventually LAM (Lifelong Adult Ministry) was the new buzz word in the parish by the year 2000.  The focus of the ministry evolved with the emphasis on spiritual life and social activities.  “The outcomes have amazed us all,” Al concludes.  Members volunteer for all sorts of parish activities including social action, Stations of the Cross, help with special parish functions.  Highlights of the year include a Mass in the courtyard, picnic, New Year’s Eve, Eve party, theater, St. Pat’s celebration, Road Rally and senior golf league.  “We try to be mindful of those who are single, encouraging them to join in, and to those with physical and spiritual needs,” Al explains.  “One of the recent happy outcomes was the marriage of two members, Andrea and Russ Giersch.”

  In his “spare” time, Al enjoys woodworking, especially cabinetry, and computer work.  LAM is the recipient of his computer skills as he designs and writes their monthly newsletter.

Recipients of his fatherly love are five children:

                     Jim (Lisa) – Cary, N.C. – a microbiologist with Raleigh Syngenta,

                     Renee (Sam) – Akron – a cardiac rehab nurse at Akron General,

                     Ann (Joel) – Euclid – a fashion designer who is a buyer for Arhaus,

                     John – Stow – a general contractor, Odd Job Squad

                      Amy (Chad) – Atlanta – fashion designer, an investigator for insurance fraud,

                     There are seven grandchildren.

   “Happiness is anyone and anything that is loved by you,” says Charlie Brown.  Thus LAM is happiness, Al’s family is happiness, and all who have experienced his generosity, concern, and untiring attention are happiness.  Thank you, Al.  May your friend, “J.C.” and his mother, Mary, continue loving you.

Joan May Maher

JOAN MAHER IS THE AUTHOR OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES THAT HAVE APPEARED  SINCE SEPTEMBER 2007.  JOAN HAS ADDED HER LITERARY SKILLS TO REALLY MAKE A GREAT STORY OF THE L.A.M. MEMBERS AVAILABLE TO OUR READERS (PROOF OF THAT TALENT IS THE STORY YOU JUST READ).  WE LOOK FORWARD TO MANY MORE OF JOAN’S INTERESTING LITERARY TALENTS.

RED CROSS BLOOD DONOR DRIVE-----The next blood donor drive is scheduled for August 17.  As usual, our parish nurse, Karen Verner, has requested L.A.M. to  supply volunteers for registration of the donors and supply the food and serving of it to the personnel staffing the donor drive.  Please give Peggy Rothermel a call, 330.656.3529 to volunteer your assistance for this very worthwhile drive. St. Mary Parish has wither met or exceeded the goal for the past drives.  If you are interested in donating, please see future parish bulletins for details.

 MASS IN THE COURTYARD------

Chuck Krejsa expresses his sincere and heartfelt “THANK YOUs “ to the following for their assistance in preparing for and implementing the Mass in the courtyard celebrated by Father John and the following gathering in the lower church Hall:

TO PEG ROTHERMEL CO CHAIRMAN , FOR THE LINENS, MASS PROTOCOL, CHOOSING
      ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS, ENTRANCE FLOWERS, AND PREPARATIONS FOR MASS.
TO NANCY STRICK FOR THE MASS MUSIC
TO MARDELLE RUPERT FOR DECORATING THE TABLE CENTERPIECES
TO MARILYN SNYDER FOR PREPARING THE COFFEE
TO JACK AND NOREEN KEEFE FOR PURCHASING THE BAKERY AT SAM'S CLUB
TO AL AND BARB BECK FOR BRINGING THE BAKERY TO THE CHURCH, SETTING UP
      AND TAKING DOWN THE FOOD.
T0 THE MANY PEOPLE ARRIVING EARLY TO HELP SET UP AND STAYING AFTER TO
     CLEAN UP.
TO JUDY  MEIDL FOR TAKING RESERVATIONS AND PROVIDING THE NAME TAGS

AND we have a special THANK YOU  for Chuck for pulling the  event off especially with his wife Mary in the hospital.  We realize it took an extreme extra effort on Chuck’s part but the success of the event indicates the dedication of Chuck.  THANK YOU---THANK YOU—THANK YOU!!!!

L.A.M. ANNUAL PICNIC AT HUDSON SPRINGS PARK------------

• See the attached flyer for all the details

ANNUAL L.A.M. MEETING-----the annual membership meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 1 in the lower hall.  If you would like to become more involved in planning the activities, events and programs for the coming year, the time to volunteer your services is PRIOR  to this meeting. Call Randy Meidl at 342.0502 or drop him an e-mail at meidl@alltel.net.