Jerome Beck

Jerome Beck, 90, of Mandan, passed away peacefully after a long battle with Parkinson’s on October 12, 2023, at Miller Pointe Care Center, Mandan.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 10:30 AM on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at Weigel Funeral Home, Mandan, ND. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens, Minot.

Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service on Wednesday.

Jerome Beck was born at home on a farm southwest of Martin, ND, on August 27, 1933, to John and Ida (Buechle) Beck. He attended grade school at Georgetown Rural School south of the farm at Anamoose. He graduated from Anamoose High School in 1951. He graduated from Minot State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education and social studies. He furthered his education in 1967 at North Dakota State University receiving a Master's Degree in counseling and guidance. He also received advance training at the University of North Dakota and Moorhead State University.

While attending college at NDSU, Jerome met June Larsen, who was also attending NDSU. Jerome and June were married on May 28, 1972, at the Assembly of God Church, New England, ND. The resided in Mandan through their married life.

Jerome was very proud to have taught in ND schools at various levels for 36 years. He started his teaching career in a rural school near Anamoose teaching grades one through six. He then taught seventh graders at Stanley, ND, and was also the principal in a consolidated building at Ross. After obtaining his Master’s Degree, Jerome continued his teaching career in Kenmare where he was the elementary school principal. While in Kenmare he spent a portion of his time providing guidance and counseling to the Kenmare High School students. At that time, he made a move to Williston where he provided guidance and counseling services to the Williston High School students. After Jerome and June were married, Jerome was a career counselor first at Bismarck High and then moved to guidance and counseling at Century High School when it was built. June was a guidance counselor at Mandan High.

One of Jerome’s great honors was being invited to all of the US Military Academies in his role as guidance counselor. He often provided his expertise in appraising and advising interested students to support success for military-connected students. Having been to all the military academies helped him prepare students interested in pursuing placement in them.

After retiring from teaching in 1991, Jerome spent eight years working part time on a federal testing program out of Washington, D.C. He was involved in training classroom teachers to administer the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In 1998, Jerome spent three months in Kansas organizing and training classroom teachers to administer this same instrument for the first time.

Jerome loved fishing and hunting in ND. To that end Jerome and June bought land on the Missouri River north of Mandan. Jerome, his father, John, and brother, Don, built a garage on the property in 1978. A trailer was added in 1979. After that, Jerome and June spent summers at the river and hosted many fish fries for their relatives, neighbors, and friends.

Jerome hunted deer nearly every year from 1957 through 2009 with his brother, Don, and his nephews Dan and David. Most of their deer hunting was near Williston where they harvested mule deer. He also hunted partridge, grouse, pheasant, duck and geese, along with elk and turkey. Almost every fall Jerome and June would host a game feed for neighbors and friends.

Jerome and June were both very generous people. They were avid gardeners, and they had a huge garden at the river lot and gave lots of vegetables away. They were very vested in family and friends.

Jerome is survived by his sister, Arlene Beck, Harvey; sister-in-law, Mary Beck, Anamoose; niece, Marla Lupo Stevens, Glenburn; nieces, Donna Beck, Lovelock, NV, and Sherry Biesterfeld, Lindenhurst, IL; nephews, Dan (Tracie) Beck, Kenai, AK, David Beck, Harvey, ND, Terry Biesterfeld, Mundelein, IL, Brian Biesterfeld, Broomfield, CO; and special friends, Kim and Lynn Conlon family.

Jerome was preceded in death by his wife, June; parents, John, Jr. and Ida Beck; sisters, Betty Biesterfeld and Irene Beck; brother, Donald Beck; and brother-in-law, Dewayne Biesterfeld.