Mary Anne Beck

Mary Anne Beck was born in September 1940 at the Springfield Osteopathic Hospital but within a few days was being royally escorted to my home at Wells Farm outside of Republic in the town hearse driven by my granddad R. E. Thurman, the town undertaker. My parents were Linzee and Daphne Thurman Wells; my grandparents were Joshua Gardner and Sue Linzee Wells and Robert Ellis and Anna Godwin Thurman, lovingly known as “Ponna.” With my sister Linda Louise and brother Donald Linzee, I grew up on Wells Farm and attended Republic schools, then went to Drury College and graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in history, causing a certain amount of flak from the family when the yellow Trivial Pursuit questions were missed. In time I met the love of my life and my best friend Dale Edward Beck in Kansas City, and we spent the next joyful 58 years together, crowned by the births of our three sons, Joseph Edward (Catherine), Robert Thomas (Sarrah Cantrell) and Jeffrey Dale (Leigh Ann) as well as our two extraordinary granddaughters Chloe McKay Beck and Charlotte Anne Beck.

After our sons were a bit older I went to work at the National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company, where I made lifelong friends and co-founded the Pig Out Recreation Club, which I served faithfully as Notice Chairman. I moved to Rockhurst University for the next 20-plus years, where I did secretarial and administrative jobs and produced the Rockhurst Daily News, ending as Assistant to the President.

During those wonderful years I enjoyed gardening, sewing, playing and performing on the flute, cooking and eating and raising our boys. Wells Farm was always a focus of our lives and the scene of countless gatherings – Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas. We were also able to do some wonderful traveling in Europe with some of our best friends.

After retirement Dale and I returned to Wells Farm where we renovated the old farm house and moved in for the next 25 years. During those great years I enjoyed Nosegay Garden Club, St. Bernadette’s Guild, and card playing dates with friends at SEAS, but especially the Republic Historical Society’s activities. In 2008 I survived pancreatic cancer, having surgery which gave me another 17 years of life.

In addition to our immediate family, I am survived by my brother, Donald Linzee Wells (Pam) and their sons Joshua (Jamie), Jason (Carlie) and Jonathan, a brother in law, Roger William Leonard and his sons Michael and Eric (Nancy) and their families, a cousin, Kathleen Sailors (Bob), my Thurman cousins, as close as siblings – Bob and Dorothy, Tom and Libby and their very special children, and of course the vast, crazy and loving Beck-Johnson family who took me in as one of their own and loved me no matter what. You all are incredible.

There is a lot of love in the world, and I have received a lot of it.

A Memorial Mass for Mary Anne will be held at 10:30 am on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church: 2200 W. Republic Rd., Springfield, MO 65807, with Father Thomas Kiefer celebrating.

In lieu of flowers, the family has suggested donations to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Republic Historical Society, or the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Herman H. Lohmeyer Funeral Home, Inc.