Frances Helen Beckham King

1929 - 2025

Frances Helen Beckham King (November 14, 1929 - September 16, 2025), born at the very beginning of the difficult years of the Great Depression, was raised by her Grandfather, John Perkins Beckham, a humble, hardworking farmer, on a small sandy farm in Rochester, Texas. Times were hard and all hands were needed on the farm, so Frances participated in the farming process from the time she was a preschool child, but “Granddad” always made sure she went to school and focused on her education, even during the harvest seasons. She hoed the fields and picked cotton in the summers and after school, and raised and sold watermelons to raise money for college.

When Frances was a 5th grader, she was asked by the principal of her school to fill in for a 2nd grade teacher who was ill.  Because of the teacher shortage that accompanied WW2, many teachers had to abandon teaching for tasks related to the war effort, so 11-year-old Frances continued to teach the second-grade class for the rest of that school year.  She had been officially been bitten by the “teaching bug”.  She had an exceptionally deep love for the students she watched grow up and kept in touch with many through the years.  She taught three generations in many families, and even four generations in a few..

She was valedictorian of her senior class, and graduated from Austin College in Sherman, Texas.   Throughout her teaching career, Frances received many awards for her innovative and passionate teaching, including inclusion in the Who’s Who in The World and Who’s Who in America publications, which cited her for excellence in many arenas of teaching.  She taught school for over 60 years, in O’Brien, then Knox City, including first Grade, 4th grade, special education, adult education, cheer sponsor, tennis coach, early childhood teacher, spelling coach, and even boys track coach for a few years in O’Brien.  Frances was a member of “The Order of the Eastern Star”, and served as Worthy Matron twice.  She was also a Girls Auxiliary leader in O’Brien, an officer for the Texas Retired Teachers Association, and a member of the First United Methodist Church in Knox City, where she taught Sunday School and sang in the choir for many years. Frances was a volunteer at the Pink Ladies resale store that benefits our local Knox City Hospital, where she passed. 

Frances was the co-author of Guide Program for Special Education and received the Teacher of the Year award for Region IVX, also for Special Education.

In 1975, Frances was hired to lead the first “Child Find” initiative in Knox County, locating, evaluating and enrolling many children with disabilities who had never before had the opportunity for education.

Frances is survived by her two daughters, Melody Rizan and Carol Priour (both of whom are teachers) and their husbands Jules Rizan and Gary Priour, six grandchildren, Jonathon and Richard (RJ) Rizan, Michael, Luke, Jonah and Camille Priour, four great grandchildren, Millie and Majel Rizan, and Miles and Mercy Priour.  She was preceded in death by her husband, Erwin (Jr.) King, her parents, Grover and Clara Beckham, her Grandfather, John Beckham, and two older sisters, Evelyn and Betty, who lived in separate homes.

Affectionately nicknamed “Pollyanna”, Frances always focused on the good in the world and encouraged others every chance she got.

If you would like to donate to one of Frances’s favorite charities in her honor in lieu of flowers, here are two suggestions . . .Hill Country Youth Ranch (a home for abandoned and neglected children, founded by Frances’s daughter Carol and her husband Gary), 3522 Junction Hwy, Ingram Texas, 78025, or the Pink Ladies in Knox City.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 27, 2025 at 2:00pm, at the First United Methodist Church, 406 SE Second St. in Knox City.