Linwood Carroll Beck


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Linwood Carroll Beck
June 11, 1928
December 21, 2020

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Linwood was born in Portland, to Carroll and Methel (Martin) Beck.  He moved to South Portland, in the early thirties when he was three to the house on Westbrook Street that his father had built in 1936. He had two sisters Pauline who lives in Colorado and Ethlyn who predeceased him. He graduated from South Portland High School where he met and later married Betty Shaw. They had two daughters Linda and Pamela.  He built his house in South Portland in 1952 and was still living there at his time of death. After graduation Linwood enlisted in the Marines. He had barely finished boot camp and WWII ended and he was discharged because the military no longer needed all the new soldiers. He learned electronics and went to work for RCA in Boston. He related one time he was at a hotel where Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were staying.  He said Dean Martin was very personable but sadly that Jerry Lewis was not at all pleasant. He went to work with his father in the early fifties and ran Carroll Beck and Son General Contractors and later started Overdoors Installation Company and worked in that business until his retirement.  He was a member of Thornton Heights Methodist Church and had served on the building committee.  He was involved in the building of the current church on Westbrook Street. He was also a Mason and Rotary member.

Linwood was a very physically fit and athletic man. He had always loved downhill skiing and joined the Downeast Ski Club and was a two time President. He earned his private pilot’s license and joined Bald Eagle Flying Club. He and his Father prebuilt a cabin in South Portland and erected it with some friends and family on the South Arm Road in Andover, Maine. It was used primarily as a November week's hunting camp.  He always had a story to tell when he got home.  One year he related Uncle George (who always did the cooking and brought his own cast iron cookware) discovered that Dad had scoured the well seasoned skillets because Dad thought they didn't look clean enough.  Uncle George was not impressed… Linwood's father had brothers that lived out of town and some out of state and that week would be used to reconnect every year.  Dad admitted years later that he really never liked to hunt.  He enjoyed just walking in the woods. Pam and her family still use the camp. He built a camp on Little Sebago Lake and spent many enjoyable summers with family and friends. He became a great water skier and especially loved slalom and jumping the wakes.  He always liked fast skiing. He enjoyed travelling and had owned travel trailers. He had also owned a house in Ocala, Florida where he spent some of his winters. Linwood loved music and dance, He claimed he couldn't carry a tune, but he had a wonderful whistle and could accompany most songs with his beautiful treble. He also liked to dance and did it very well. Especially the jitterbug.

Dad was always willing to help people and he liked building things. He and Jeremy built many radio controlled devices - a big wheeled truck, speed boat and airplane. He always had a positive attitude and ready smile. Even when he was faced with adversity, he would keep a positive attitude and express that God would never give him more than he could handle he had a very deep faith. Linwood adored everyone in his family and we as his family feel incredibly blessed to have had him as part of our lives he will be missed. Sadly, due to illnesses, Linwood was predeceased by his wife Betty in 1968, his wife Carol in 1977 and wife Irene in 2019. He is survived by his daughter Linda and her fiancé Ronald Blanchard and her son Brian and his fiancée Lindsay. He is also survived by his daughter Pamela and her husband Ronald Grondin and their sons Mathew and Jeremy and his wife Karyn and daughter Bailey.
A celebration of his life will be held graveside at a later date.



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