- Date Of Birth: April 25, 1926
- Date Of Death: February 27, 2022
- State: Ohio
SALEM – Marian Jeanne Beck, 95, died peacefully and graciously on Sunday, February 27, 2022, at Abbington of Powell Assisted Living in Powell, OH.
She was welcomed into the world on April 25, 1926, in Goshen Township OH, by her parents, the late John McQuilkin Wilson and the late Kezia Orlu (Crawford) Wilson.
Marian was a 1944 graduate of David Anderson High School in Lisbon, Ohio and spent her earlier high school years at Augusta High School in Carrollton, Ohio. She went on to attend the Hannah E. Mullins School of Nursing graduating in 1948 and Mount Union College graduating as a Registered Nurse. She was known by her peers and all who knew her, as an excellent and well-respected nurse spending most of her career as an RN at the Salem Regional Medical Center.
“I have no other shield than my own virtue” was her senior year high school motto which certainly rang true in her life as a person of integrity, honesty, and courage. Her passion was for her family and her love for each new family member, added by marriage and by birth through the years, strengthened her resolve to leave a legacy of love.
As a woman of many talents and endless energy, she loved shopping with her husband Wendell for antiques and refinishing pieces together. Their home was filled with well-loved furniture and treasures from family heirlooms to pieces found in their travels and her great joy was to tell stories about their history. Her mother once said that “Marian could make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” and her family knows that to be true; curtains, costumes and clothes ranging from doll clothes to prom dresses, nothing was too much trouble or too difficult. If something needed done, she figured out a way to make it happen.
When it came to hospitality, Marian exemplified her true giftedness. She openly welcomed friends, neighbors and strangers into their home, and well-planned parties or unannounced visits were equally embraced. Traveling with her husband, Wendell, playing cards with the “club girls” and having family over for any reason at all were on her list of some of the best times.
Marian was very active in the Salem’s First United Methodist Church serving as secretary/treasurer of the church day care and a member of United Methodist Women. She served faithfully alongside her husband Wendell, who was an assistant scout leader for many years with the United Methodist Church Boy Scouts Troop 2. Their combined efforts to make this troop flourish has had lasting effects. After her husband’s passing, she continued to serve for many years as the treasurer.
Her husband, J. Wendell Beck, whom she married January 26, 1950, at the First United Methodist Church in Salem, Ohio, died September 9, 1997.
Her two daughters, Shelley and Beth, along with their husbands, children and their spouses, and grandchildren live on to share her legacy. She is survived by Shelley Congrove and her husband John of Powell, OH and their children Angelique, John (Emily), Johannah (Jim), Jared (Laura) and Jessica Jeanne (Dave); Beth Barnhill and her husband Donald of Delaware, OH and their children Derek (Kim), Samuel (Ashley) and Hannah Kezia (Jake); 8 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
Besides her parents, Marian was preceded in death by siblings, Elizabeth Snyder, Wade, George, and Joyce (Willie) Wilson.
