Obituary: Lance Beckman

He had many jobs throughout high school and college besides the paper route.  He worked as a grocery store carry-out boy and occasionally as a fishing guide. He worked for the local corn canning company and the granite quarry, where he made up his mind that he would go to college and not have to do that kind of work forever. He was the head lifeguard at the local beach and though he saved many lives, for the rest of his life he carried the burden of losing one young girl to drowning on his watch. The circumstances were beyond his control but he always accepted the responsibility with sorrow.

He was active in Boy Scouts, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He continued on as a popular and active Explorer Scout leader in Pierre, S.D., with as many as 50 boys in his troop at a time. After retirement, he mentored those working on their Eagle Scout award.

He graduated from Ortonville High School ’58 and after one year at St. Cloud State, transferred to South Dakota State University, intending to go into wildlife studies. There, a wise professor advised him that if he loved to hunt, he should recognize that he would be at his busiest during hunting season and that he might consider going into fisheries instead.

In 1961, he married Karen Pew of Corona, S.D., and to that union two children were born:  Troy, in 1962, and Todd, in 1964. Lance and Karen raised their boys in Pierre in the same manner in which Lance grew up, hunting and fishing for most of their food. A favorite family story tells of the boys first taste of hamburgers. Their only question was, “Oh, who shot it?”

The family spent weekends camping on the Missouri River and searching for artifacts as often as they could.  Lance taught his boys to operate the boat at a very young age, just as he had done. The boys also were active in Boy Scouts. Many of the young boys in Lance’s troops remained lifelong friends.

Between his junior and senior year at SDSU, he had the opportunity to participate in a summer research project for the Federal Government. When it was time to return to school, the research project leader asked Lance if he would consider staying on through the fall, delaying his graduation by months. In exchange he would have a full-time job awaiting for him with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). He took the offer and enjoyed 33 years as a fisheries research biologist with the Service.

Lance’s first major assignment was to the Missouri River Basin based in Pierre, where he studied the reservoir fish communities with an emphasis on walleye. He and his career-long buddy Bill Nelson were transferred to the Columbia River Basin in 1978 and he began his research on the white sturgeon out of the Columbia River Research Laboratory,  USFWS, Cook, Wash.

After retiring in 1994, he took a couple of summer assignments in Alaska, and thereafter became involved in many local, county and state agencies as a fisheries advisor. For many years, he served on the Joint Oregon-Washington Sports Fishery Advisory Board and with the Klickitat County Citizens Review Board. He served on several other boards and committees and as treasurer for the Snowden Community Council until his passing.

His beloved wife, Karen, died in 2000, and Lance worked out his grief in land projects in her memory, dedicating a portion of his property to conservation, planting nine species of plants to control erosion.

In 2002, life returned to Lance when he and another Ortonville friend renewed acquaintances. He and Judy Kanten Drewicke were married in 2003.

Lance would identify himself first as a child of God. He had a close, personal relationship with the Lord and went down to the Columbia River every day for his “walk and talk with The Big Boy.” When he had questions, he got answers by finding pennies where no pennies should be … places he had walked the day before. His collection of “message pennies” numbers in the hundreds.

He loved God’s natural world and the feel and the sound of the wind. Using the line from a song (they call the wind Mariah) he named his property Mariah’s Wildhaven. He often said, “Be still and listen to the earth” and “If you’re lucky enough to live in the mountains, you’re lucky enough.”

He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother, and his wife Karen. He is survived by his wife, Judy, his sons Troy (Michelle) of Springfield, Ore., and Todd (Monica) of Bend, Ore., grandchildren Mikayla and Carson Beckman, Leslie (Neil) Gosswiller and Carly McCall and six great-grandchildren.

Gardner Funeral Home in White Salmon, Wash., is in charge of the arrangements.  A celebration of life will be held at a later date.