Page 50 - my-people-abbie-harris-beck

GEORGE LAMAR BECK, SR
15 JANUARY 1918

Lamar was the first child born to Grover and Eliza Beck. His grandfather was
George Warren Beck. His great grandfather was Warren William Beck. Lamar was born
in the home that his father had constructed and has remained on the land of his forefathers
since 1875. His first nurse was "aunt Sarah Rogers", a black woman that had worked for
the Beck Family for many years.
Lamar's first years were those of any other child of this era. He had plenty of
attention from his grandmother Alice Eudora and his grandfather George. He was the first
Beck grandchild. When he was three and a half, he got a little brother. He can remember
going to his grandmother's to spend the night and being told about his new brother the
next morning. During these early days, his father gave him a pet lamb. The lamb was
named Mary. Sure enough. "Every where that Lamar went, the lamb was sure to go".
The first year of school for Lamar was a disaster. He went to school his first year
in 1924. The Bullock school which was typical of schools in those days, had several
grades meet in the same room with the same teacher. Lamar was a timid child and his
parents had problems keeping him in school. He would play sick and have all kinds of
ailments. He usually got a whipping from his mama as well as some bad tasting medicine,
such as castor oil.
At the beginning of the school year in 1925, he was enrolled in Mrs. Irwins first
grade in Geneva. School days there was much different than at Bullock. All kids were the
same age, and Mrs. Irwin had a baby grand piano which she played and the children sang
and marched around. Lamer was usually carried to school by his Aunt Willie. She had a
job as clerk in the tax assessors' office at the courthouse. Lamar would walk down to her
office to ride home in the afternoon. Bus service was begun later on and Mr. Irby C.
Lacey was the bus driver.
In the fall of 1928 Lamar's brother Warren began going to school. The first years
of school found Lamar falling for all his teachers. Mrs. Matthew's, Orr and Ard. By the
time he reached Mrs. Annie Noblin's fifth grade he had discovered little girls. His sixth
grade teacher was Mrs. Lillie Tiller Fain. She was an excellent teacher and a strict
disciplinarian. Teachers began to loose their special influence on little boys, as the little
girls got prettier and prettier. By the ninth grade boys began to claim sweethearts. About
this time Lamar's first love moved away.
The fall of 1934 was an exciting time for Lamar. He played football for the first
season. Geneva had a winning season. It was this season that he intercepted a pass and
ran back for a touchdown against Samson, winning the game ! At the close of the
tenth year of school, May 1935, the school principal, J.H. "Ollie" Johnson sent for him to
come to the office. The purpose of this conference was to inform Lamar that if he would
take 8 weeks of summer school he could pass to the twelfth grade in the fall of 1935 and
graduate in May 1936. Lamar took advantage of this opportunity, thus graduating timely.
Twelve years after beginning at Bullock
In the fall of 1935, Lamar was invited to join the "Booster" Club. The Booster
Club was a social and academic organization. On one of the first meetings of this club, he

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