EULA MAE BECKETT
Eula Mae Beckett, was born May 19, 1935 to the late James and Luebellva (Belle) Hope. She passed away quietly Monday morning, September 12, 2022 at 5AM, surrounded by her sons at Tidal Health Hospital in Salisbury, MD. She was the youngest child born in a very large family of eleven sisters and brothers. Her brother, Vernon Hope, passed away during the summer of 2021, one sister remains, Lince (Liz) Brown of New Jersey. Over the past year, she often mentioned how much she missed her brother because they use to talk on the phone daily.
Eula Mae started her adult life with the birth of her first son, Robert Lee, at the age of 13. At that time, her formal school education ended and the school of life commenced. She was a child raising a child. At the age of 15, she met and married Robert Beckett in 1950. She was so young that her age had to be raised to get married. Eula Mae bore 7 children, six boys and 1 girl, of those, 5 sons survived. She never had the opportunity to finish her education but nevertheless she instilled in her sons the need to obtain theirs. She knew that education was a means to better their lives and didn’t want her sons to repeat the mistake that she had made by not finishing school.
There were about 4 years between each of the sons except for two. Her grand plan was for each son to go to college starting with the eldest, he would finish and help the second son and this would continue until all finished college. It didn’t quite work out as she had hoped because the Vietnam War ended her plans. Robert Lee was on the draft list and decided to go ahead and enlist in the Army. He was immediately sent to Vietnam after completing basic training. The dream was realized with four of the five sons completing college and two went on to earn graduate degrees.
Eula Mae loved reading and learning new things her entire life. I wonder what she would have achieved if things had been just a bit different before starting her adult life. She found faith, hope and fellowship when she and Dad joined New Macedonia Baptist Church around 1960. She was an avid church goer until her health stopped her from attending. She and Robert both sang with the gospel choir and she represented the church numerous times at their annual Baptist Church conferences. This brought her immense pleasure and strengthened her bond with the New Macedonia church family. She faithfully paid her tithes each month even when she didn’t have a lot left for herself. She was a devout Christian and a good mother.
She leaves to cherish fond memories, four sons: Larry Beckett (Stephanie), Prentice Beckett (Lee), Clinton Beckett (Debbie), and Kenneth Beckett (Niecy); grandchildren: Twanna Richo, Kevin Hughes, Roberta Beckett, Nicole Corbin, Tania Alexander, Yolanda Brown, Janelle Beckett, Corey Palmer, Dynell Beckett, and Jailyn Beckett; her loving sister, Lince Brown; beloved nieces and nephews: Carl Walton, Veronica Walton, Zeus Walton, Lauren Hope, Kenny Hope, and Jennifer Hope. Eula Mae also had three special sons whom she loved dearly, Marvin Jones (Brendell), Rev. Carroll Mills (Shirelle) and Michael Cooper (Sybil). Eula Mae’s caretaker was Mrs. Sonya Brumskin for the past two years whom Eula Mae considered a part of the family along with a host of other relatives and friends.
