Dolores Beck

Our beloved mother and Mema passed from this life to continue her journey with Christ on Wednesday, February 28th after a 2 year battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Our mother who was in perfect health fought a courageous and noble fight until her last breath. Dolores Jane LaChance (Beck) was born June of 1931 in East St. Louis Illinois where she grew up playiing competitive tennis eventually becoming a Missouri Valley Champion. Dolores continued to play tennis throughout her life passing this along to her 3 girls, spending countless hours with them on the local tennis courts in Livermore, California. During her time in Livermore she worked as an administrative assistant to some of the top bio-physicists at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Dolores then moved with her husband and family to Oklahoma helping him run and manage Mashburn Arms, Inc., a popular firearms business in Oklahoma City during the oil boom of the 80's. Upon retirement, Dolores continued to be active volunteering for Mercy Hospital for 15 years until health issues forced her to slow down a bit. Dolores's bird watching in recent months entertained her for hours. She found peace and happiness watching them come and go. Our goal in keeping mom as comfortable as possible was equal to that of keeping the squirrels as uncomfortable as possible and away from her beloved bird friends. This task would become equally challenging. Dolores never had an unkind word to say about anyone. She was devout in her Catholicism and lived a simple peaceful life. The one exception to this was when her beloved Thunder "guys" would not prevail. Never having played basketball or even understanding the game, she became an expert and could stand her own with her grandsons during heated discussions after each game. Dolores will forever be cherished by her daughters, Catherine Anne Kramer husband Ken, Elizabeth Marie Beck, Laura Jane Beck. Her grandchildren, Christoper, Nathan, Ethan, Alex, Joshua and great-grandson Noah. Last but certainly not least, was our fourth sibling, her annoying but constant little companion her precious noisy dachshund Toby.