Lavinia C. Beck

After a brief illness, Mrs. Lavinia Beck died in Porter Hospice on August 24. She was 83. She was born Katharine Lavinia Blake on October 27, 1920 in Boone, Iowa, the second of three children of Katharine Richmond Blake and Steele Blake. She attended Roosevelt High School and was graduated from St. Katharine's School in Davenport, Iowa in 1936. She graduated from Iowa state University in 1940, majoring in zoology and English literature. Lavinia married John Powers Crocker, an officer in the Army Air Corps, in 1942. They moved to Japan in 1946 for a tour of duty. In subsequent years, the couple and their three children lived in Fort Bellevoir, Langley, Washington and northern France. It was while they were living in a village northwest of Paris that Colonel Crocker died in a plane crash during a military mission near Casablanca in January 1954. Lavinia moved with her children to Denver in 1955. Three years later she married Fred Beck, founder of Beck's Flowers. The couple belonged to Cherry Hills Country Club and the Denver Athletic Club. Mrs. Beck was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority and Colonial Dames. She is survived by two children, Stephen Crocker of Denver and Katharine Nigh of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; seven grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 9:00 AM on Saturday, August 28 at Christ Church, 2950 S. University Blvd., Denver. Burial will be at Crown Hill Cemetery, 7777 W. 29th Ave. immediately following. Visitation 4-8 PM, Friday, Crown Hill Mortuary. Flowers may be sent to the mortuary.