You could say Dorris “Dorrie” Beck has lived a long and healthy life. She was born in Nevada, Ohio Aug. 29, 1924, exactly 101 years ago. Dorrie was raised on a farm during the Great Depression and remembers a little bit of that. She never went hungry, she said. Her family had what they needed but she never learned to milk the cows.
In high school, during the start of World War II, she was a senior in 1941, graduating in 1942. When her family moved to Bucyrus, Ohio after graduation, Beck moved to Columbus, Ohio to attend college.
Dorrie corresponded with Clarence Beck while he was in the army and she was in college. After the war, they got married in 1946 and moved to Colorado to continue college. The Becks had two children: Randall “Randy” and Chris. Randy passed away in 2010.
After they graduated from college, Clarence and Dorrie moved in 1953 to Quincy. Dorrie taught third grade at Pioneer Elementary School from 1960 to 1963. She worked for one year at Quincy Elementary as a third-grade teacher, then launched a career as school librarian at Quincy Elementary, a job she held until retirement in 1981.
During her retirement, Dorrie volunteered at the Plumas County Library in Quincy off and on into her 90s.
As a person known to be sharp as a tack with a clever wit, Dorrie responded to the proverbial question of how it feels to be 101: “It doesn’t feel like 101,” she said. “When people ask her the secret to long life, she tells them, “Don’t die!” She added that she’s just been lucky to be healthy.
Cards and letters of congratulations can be sent to: Dorrie Beck, PO Box 681, Quincy, CA 95971
Happy 101 Birthday, Dorrie Beck!
