Edwin Hammond "Boolie" Beck Jr.

Our loving husband, father, and brother, Edwin Hammond Beck Jr. was called home Sunday evening, the 3rd of November 2024. Known as "Boolie" to his family and friends, he lived a full and meaningful life of 83 years and deeply touched everyone who knew him during that time. After a restful day at his home in Daphne, Alabama, surrounded by loved ones, Boolie peacefully closed his eyes; the day was over, his work was done, and all was still and beautiful.
Born on the 20th of August 1941 in Montgomery, Alabama while his family was living in Talladega, Boolie is the son of Edwin H. Beck, Sr. and Nona Tutt Beck. He is survived by his loving wife, Nancy Bolton Beck, whom he'll cherish and love eternally. He is survived by his two exceptional sisters, Tutt Hoy (Phil Hoy) and Sally Everett (Wade Everett); his children, Joshua Beck (Aleks Furman), Andrew Beck (Rebecca Beck), Joscelin Steiner (Thomas Steiner), Nell Bolton (Joseph Butler), and Jeremy Bolton; his six wonderful grandchildren all of whom he was amazed by and whom he deeply adored, Camp Steiner (22), William Steiner (19), James Steiner (17), Atticus Butler (10), Della Beck (5), and Remy Beck (2); as well as his many loving nephews, nieces, cousins, and friends also carry on his memory and love.
Boolie loved life and was amazed at what many of us unknowingly walked past. His sense of humor will be missed forever but his jokes and stories will live on. His awe of the world and people in it was contagious. His patience in life, his curious approach to understanding, and his respect for his fellow human beings are some of his most memorable qualities. Boolie loved the natural world and spent a lot of time in it, finding peace, connection, and inspiration to be the person everyone knew him to be. His gift to this world is showing others the wonder and beauty in the birds and trees, in old cars and vintage things, in neighbors and us, and in the good deeds and respect for one another that can be difficult to cultivate during even the best of times.
Boolie grew up during the Second World War and the Korean War. He spent his youth in Alabama and Georgia while his father served the war effort in construction on the home front. He played war, joined the scouts, explored the creeks and woods, had paper routes, and played football. Around the age of eleven, Boolie contracted polio and although very sick, was not afflicted with any lasting issues. Scouting became a major part of his adolescence and teenage years. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout, and later went on to become a Sea Scout. He was thrilled to see the Scouting tradition continue with some of his grandchildren.
Boolie attended Cloverdale School and Sidney Lanier High school in Montgomery where he played football and played the flute in marching band. He then moved to West Point, Georgia and attended West Point High School where he and his football team, a squad so small that everyone on the team played both offense and defense, won the 1958 Georgia State Championship.
During his time at Auburn University, Boolie studied Civil Engineering and English and majored in History. He joined the ROTC at Auburn and trained at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was active in campus life and escorted the university's first Black student throughout one of his classes during his 1964 senior year. After graduation, Boolie became a canoe camp counselor in Northern Ontario at Camp Keewaydin on Lake Temagami. He spent many summers there leading boys' trips into the Canadian wilderness teaching leadership, survival, and outdoors skills. In his late twenties he explored Eastern Europe from Germany to Turkey in a 1962 Volkswagen Beetle. This engendered a lifelong love of Volkswagons, another passion passed on to the next generation.
Boolie proudly held a long and successful career in construction. He built launch pads during the Apollo missions, nuclear energy facilities, cathedrals, concert halls, hospitals, and science laboratories. He became a pioneer in the field of Lean Construction and taught classes and consulted on the application of the strategy. He retired from construction in the Spring of 2024, after a sixty-year career.
A truly interesting and interested man, Boolie was above all else a wonderful and dedicated father, husband, and family man. Though his work kept him busy throughout his career, his success is not measured by the buildings he built or the marks he left in his field. His success and his legacy is the vast and loving network of family and friends whose lives he continues to touch and enrich. This legacy reflects how he always stayed true to himself and led, loved, and taught from his heart.
Boolie continues to teach us to always be young, always stay curious, and always keep learning. By the age many would consider old and wise, Boolie picked up new hobbies like kayaking and yoga, became active in grassroots organizing for a better world for us all to live in, and continued lifelong hobbies like bird watching, reading, and road trips. He reminds us still to be interested in others, respect and love those around us, to see the humor and wonder in everything, and to forever live in the present, because the present is all we have, and the present is outstanding and amazing. With full hearts, his loving memory we forever cherish.
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A memorial service for Edwin H. Beck Jr, will be held for all to attend on Sunday, November 10, 2024, at St. Paul's Chapel, 14755 Oak Street in Magnolia Springs, Alabama at 2:00PM. Private graveside services will be held at Grace Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Those wishing to honor Ed's memory are invited to perform acts of kindness.
Hughes Funeral Home, 26209 Pollard Road, Daphne, AL, is assisting the family.