J. P. Beck and Kitty Lee Shoemaker Beck
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J.P. and Kitty Beck
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Biography

J.P. Beck, son of Orice M. Beck and Emma T. Lark, was born Jan. 29, 1914 at Pilot Point, Denton Co.

In 1920, when J.P. was six years old, he moved to Ralls with his parents, a brother, Marvin, a twin sister, Nola B. and a little sister, Willie Mae. He started to school at Ralls. The Ralls school building at that time was located where the Lions swimming pool is located, 1977.

At the age of eight years, J.P. moved with his parents to League 4 community where he attended school four years. Mrs. John Justice was his first teacher there.

In 1926, the family moved to Caprock Community. since there was no school there at that time, he attended school at Owens No. 2 until a school was built at Caprock. He finished 9th grade there in 1932 then attended high school in Ralls one year.

April 27, 1935 J.P. Beck married Kitty Lee Shoemaker, daughter of James A. Shoemaker and Mary Alice Shoemaker. J.P. and Kitty made their first home in Caprock area for the next two years.

In 1937, J.P. bought and operated Panhandle service station at Ralls.

In 1938, J.P. and Rob Hampton built a garage in Tahoka where they had a partnership in a wrecking yard and service station. This business was destroyed by fire in May, 1939. The next eight months were spent working on a farm at Running Water community near Plainview. In January 1940, J.P. and Kitty moved to Canyon valley, south of the Caprock, south of Ralls. There he worked on a farm for a year.

In Jan. 1941, J.P. moved to a farm two and one-half miles southwest of Crosbyton where he did farm work for Mrs. Brute Mitchell through one crop season, then finished that year working at Owens gin.

In Feb. 1942, J.P. rented farm land from Sam Covington of Crosbyton, located one mile south and five miles east of Cone. J.P. farmed this place three years.

In 1947, J.P. rented his father´s farm at Caprock and moved his family to the O.M. Beck home place where they lived until 1951. During this time J.P. bought land of his own at Caprock and Cone, and in 1949 he built Caprock General Mercantile store which he owned and operated until Feb. 1952.

In 1951, J.P. bought a home in Ralls and moved his family to town. He continued his farming operation at Caprock and Cone until bad health forced his retirement in Feb. 1975.

J.P. and Kitty have three daughters: Charlotte Ann, Alice Faye and Samanthia Jay.

Source: Crosby County History Book, 1876-1977

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Obituary

Services for J.P. Beck, 74, of Ralls were held at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 8, 1988, in the Ralls First Baptist Church with the Rev. Floyd Haddock, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Hobbs, NM, officiating. Burial followed in Ralls Cemetery under direction of Carter-Adams Funeral Home of Ralls.

Mr. Beck died at 4:26 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5, 1988, in Lubbock´s St. Mary´s Hospital after a lengthy illness.

He was born in Pilot Point, Texas, and moved from Denton County to the Ralls area in 1920. He married Kitty Shoemaker on April 27, 1935, in Clovis, NM. He was a farmer, a former gas station and general mercantile store owner and a member of the First Baptist Church.

Survivors include his wife, Kitty of Ralls; three daughters, Charlotte Campbell of Floydada; Alice Faye Parker of Ralls; Sammie Logsdon of Littlefield; one brother, Marvin Beck of Lubbock; three sisters, Nola B. Lyles of San Angelo; Vivian Houchin of Lubbock; Emma Lee Norwood of Brownwood; 11 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren.

Crosby County News & Crosbyton Review, August 11, 1988
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum

Kitty Beck
RALLS - Services for Kitty Lee Beck, 88, of Ralls will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 6, 2003, at Ralls First Baptist Church with the Revs. Floyd Haddock and Ken Bevel officiating. Burial will be in Ralls Cemetery under direction of Adams Funeral Home of Ralls.

She died Friday, July 4, 2003, at her home in Ralls. She was born June 12, 1915, in Dunn, Texas. She married J.P. Beck on April 27, 1935, in Clovis, N.M. He preceded her in death on Aug. 5, 1988. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Ralls and taught Sunday school. She was a homemaker and a farmer, moving to Ralls in 1951 from Caprock.

She is preceded in death by a daughter, Charlotte Campbell; two brothers, Harold Shoemaker and David Shoemaker; two sisters, Elsie Brown and Jimmie Richardson; a grand-daughter, Kelly Jo McCauley; and two great-grandsons, Tyson Coe Covington and Jason Bryan Tidwell. Survivors include two daughters, Alice Faye Parker and Sammie Logsdon, both of Ralls; two brothers, Roy Shoemaker and Sam Shoemaker, both of Ralls, three sisters, Alice Wilson of Escondido, Calif., Joann Crane of Wylie, Texas, and Mary Hale of Ralls; 10 grandchildren; 24 great-grand-children; and two great-great-grandchildren.

Lubbock Avalanche Journal, Saturday July 5, 2003




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