Final Salute

BECK, Arthur “Fritz” Arthur Frederick “Fritz” Beck, a resident of Richardson, Texas, for over 60 years, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, July 23rd, 2020 at his assisted living home in Plano. He was 91 years old. His health had steadily declined since suffering a stroke in late 2017. Though the COVID-19 global pandemic had restricted direct contact with Fritz since mid-March, his daughter Carol who lives nearby was able to be at his side when he passed, peacefully. For that, his entire family is thankful. Fritz was born in Goshen, Indiana on December 26th, 1928, to Elsie (Winterhoff) Beck and Arthur Elmer Beck, both of whom preceded him in death. In 2004 he was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 49 years, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” (Bunyard) Beck whom he married on January 23, 1955, and by his sister, Joan Helen (Beck) Picht in 2014. Ever the proud and loving father, Fritz and wife Betty welcomed three lovely daughters into this life. Surviving him are daughter Janet Marie and husband Col. (Ret.) Richard Zimmerman of San Antonio, daughter Carol Ann and husband Charles “Ched” Bart of Plano, and daughter Nicole Elaine and husband Christopher Dow of Madison, Alabama. Fritz was an exceedingly proud grandfather and is survived by grandson Joshua Bart of Herndon, VA, granddaughter Sarah (Bart) and husband Blake Robertson of McKinney, granddaughter Emily (Bart) and husband Logan George of Dallas, granddaughter Meredith Bart of Plano, and granddaughters Victoria, Sophie, and Chloe, and grandson Garrett Dow of Madison, AL. Bringing the latest twinkle to his eyes and smile to his face for the final fifteen months of his life was Fritz’s great granddaughter, Collins Rae Robertson of McKinney, also surviving him in death. Fritz and sister Joan were raised in Goshen where he attended public school and was active in Boy Scouts of America, rising to the rank of Eagle Scout before attending college at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. As a young man, Fritz was forever fascinated with machines and “how things worked” so it was no surprise that he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering in January 1951. His entire life, Fritz was also an avid reader and student of American history, particularly the Civil War and World War II, and was known to all as a consummate American patriot. True to his sense of duty and patriotism, when the Korean War broke out only six months before his college graduation, Fritz enlisted in the U. S. Navy upon graduation and served four years in the Civil Engineering Corps, achieving the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade). During his years in the Navy, he spent time on Midway Island in the South Pacific and Subic Bay in the Philippines. He also served in New Orleans on the staff of the Commandant, 8th Naval District, where he met his future wife, Betty Bunyard of Morton, MS. While in New Orleans, Fritz also found time to attend Loyola University Law school at night, continuing law courses for a semester at the University of Texas Law School in Austin following his Navy years and marriage to Betty in 1955. He liked to say that he abandoned his law school education, ultimately, in favor of engineering where “2+2=4, not what you want it to be!” Those who knew Fritz knew just how proud he was of the time he spent in the military serving our country. In his later career, and characteristic of many professional men of his generation, Fritz wore a coat and tie much of the time, typically sporting a U. S. Navy lapel pin on his sport coat and wearing his favorite U. S. Navy tie around the neck of his crisp, white, short-sleeve shirt, complete with engineer’s pen and pencil in his pocket! Ever ready in the trunk of his car and often used before arriving at his office or other times during a routine day were work boots and other tools regularly used for surveying, another of as Fritz’s professional skills. In addition to marrying Betty and raising three successful daughters, perhaps the accomplishments of which Fritz was proudest were those related to his passion-civil engineering. He was first licensed as a Professional Engineer in 1956 and held similar licenses in three other states. He was a Registered Professional Land Surveyor in Texas, and in 1957 he joined the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. He was a charter member of the Preston Trail Chapter of TSPE, served as its president, and ultimately, as President of TSPE. He won numerous awards and was honored as Engineer of the Year by the Preston Trail Chapter, Dallas Chapter, and the State Society. Fritz often said that he was proudest of his Texas Engineer License dated 2006, printed in gold, and marked “Professional Engineer for Over 50 Years!” He was a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (past President, Dallas Branch), a member of Consulting Engineers Council (past President, North Texas Chapter), and a member of the Water Pollution Control Federation. And as far back as 1958, Fritz authored, or co-authored articles and papers presented in professional engineering industry publications. As an engineer with the Texas Highway Department for over ten years, Fritz ultimately served as Senior Resident Engineer in Dallas where he worked on Interstate Highway construction and was responsible for the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Transportation Study. Then, in 1969 he joined Dallas engineering firm R. L. Goodson Consulting Engineers where he was its Vice President until 1984 when he left to form a new firm, Beck, Sandhu, and Martin, Inc. That firm’s name was changed in 1996 to BSM Consulting Engineers, Inc. where Fritz was principal and worked until his retirement in 2018. Fritz supervised numerous freeway construction projects in the Dallas area during his career, preparing geometric layouts for freeway interchanges and participating in several transportation planning seminars in the North Texas area. His other projects included Dallas County Community Colleges, the University of Texas at Dallas, University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, and the McDonald Observatory (Big Bend area) for the University of Texas System. He was involved in the planning and design of rural and municipal sewage treatment facilities, drainage systems, and utility designs at National Parks, rivers and lakes, and in numerous traffic and pavement studies. It is fair to suggest that motorists in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and elsewhere in North Texas over the past fifty years have driven on roadways, highways, interchanges, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure touched in some way by Fritz Beck’s engineering skills! Fritz was proud of his education and believed that education was critical to career development. He earned a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, becoming an adjunct professor of civil engineering there and teaching from 1979 thru 1992 at which time civil engineering was discontinued. When civil engineering returned to SMU in 2003, Fritz again answered the call to teach, all the while continuing to run his company! He continued to teach civil and environmental engineering, including his favorite course, the senior engineering design project, until a couple years before his stroke. As a professor, Fritz was known for being demanding, yet fair, and regularly imparted wisdom beyond engineering to his students, many of which hailed from foreign countries. Fritz shared with his family stories of several projects by his senior design course students and their plans to return those projects to their native countries in order to better conditions there and to help their countrymen, whether by providing solar energy, cleaner water, improved sanitation, or irrigation systems to grow food-crops. During most of his life, Fritz worked six days a week leaving Sunday for rest and faithful attendance at his church, First Baptist in Richardson, TX. He was a regular usher and Sunday School teacher there having taught fourth grade students for over fifty years, eventually including several grandchildren belonging to some of his very first students! He was a Christian, a quiet man of God who chose to profess his faith simply by setting an example in the way he lived his life. Those closest to him knew that he loved God, his family, his country, his friends, his colleagues, his career, and his life. He was not a collector of material things, and was gentle, soft spoken, and refused to use profanity or rough language. It should be no surprise that Fritz had no enemies; he would help anyone, never asking or expecting anything in return. His love had no limits, and it showed-simply, quietly, and completely. It is difficult to summarize the life of Fritz Beck in few words. He had a positive, enduring impact on the lives of all he touched in his 91 years, most especially his parents, his sister, his wife, his three daughters and their husbands, his eight grandchildren and his great granddaughter, his church friends, his Sunday School students, his Navy engineering and construction brothers-in-arms, his many, many colleagues and fellow engineers, and his college students. And there were those people who became regulars in Fritz’s life, especially during the sixteen years following the passing of his sweet Betty-Kim and Mike at his favorite Saturday breakfast stop; Mary, who kept cleanliness and order to his house; and his Vitas hospice caregivers-all were his favorites and all were loved and appreciated by him to the end. For them and for many unnamed others, Fritz’s family will be forever grateful. Moreover, his family will be forever grateful to our almighty God for the life of Arthur “Fritz” Beck-son, brother, husband, dad, granddad, great granddad, Eagle Scout, Navy officer, American patriot, engineer, and friend-you will be sorely missed, but never, ever forgotten! We Love You! May You Rest in Peace Until We Are Together Again, Forever! Memorials: Shortly after suffering his stroke in the Fall of 2017, Fritz was privileged to travel to Austin to attend the “Celebrate Seabee 75 Banquet,” an event he had planned for months to attend. The banquet was sponsored by the CEC/Seabee Historical Foundation and recognized the Diamond Anniversary of the United States Navy Seabees and Naval officers of its Civil Engineering Corps, the division in which Fritz served during the Korean War. Following the presentation and a dinner, many among the hundreds of attendees were recognized for their service during the 75 years (at that time) since the creation of the Navy Seabees. Recognition began by era beginning with those having most recently served and followed as far back as those in attendance. Not surprisingly, the oldest attendee having served with the Navy CEC/Seabees, was Fritz Beck. When his name was called, he stood smartly at his table as he was acknowledged by the hundreds in attendance with a rousing standing ovation lasting for minutes. This unexpected recognition, by the very organization in which Fritz honed his skills as a professional engineer, was the perfect culmination of his 67-year career! Fritz stood tall and proud and wept as he looked across the banquet room at his many peers, including admirals, officers, and seamen of many grades, many of whom approached later to shake hands, extend well-wishes, and to thank him for his life well-served. To the end, he never forgot that event nor the time he served as an officer in the United States Navy. A painting memorializing the Navy Civil Engineering Corps and Seabees, along with his favorite Seabee baseball cap, were prominent in his room until his death. It is fitting, therefore, that Fritz’s family simply ask that, in lieu of flowers, anyone moved or touched by his life and wishing to honor his memory do so by considering a donation to- CEC/ Seabee Historical Foundation P. O. Box 657 Gulfport, MS 39502 info@seabeehf.org (228) 865-0480