Fred Palmer Beckman

Fred Palmer Beckman
September 10, 1925 – March 7, 2020

Palmer Beckman, of Lone Oak passed away at 8:39 a.m. Saturday, March 7, 2020 at Morningside of Paducah. He was born September 10, 1925, in Washington County, Illinois to Fred Henry and Martha (Decker) Beckman. He was baptized into St. John’s Evangelical Church in Cordes, Illinois in infancy, and was confirmed when he was fourteen years old. Immediately after graduation from Nashville Township High School, he was inducted into the US NAVY. He received his boot camp training in Farragut, Idaho. As Pharmacist Mate Third Class, he was assigned to serve on the USS COMFORT during World War II. The USS COMFORT, a hospital ship, evacuated wounded servicemen from bloody Okinawa and other South Pacific Battle Arenas. On April 28, 1945, at 8:58 pm, a Japanese suicide plane rammed the fully lighted, side of the ship killing 29 passengers and crew and wounding 33 others. Beckman was on the deck just below the large hole made by the plane which was lodged inside the ship. He was nineteen years old at the time.

After the War, he attended University of Illinois at Champaign for one year before coming to Paducah to work at the Gaseous Diffusion Plant for the next 37 years. Mr. Beckman was a volunteer fireman for 48 years at the Lone Oak Fire Department and was Assistant Chief for many of those years.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Mary Belle (Kaler) Beckman of Lone Oak; three sons, Joe Frederick Beckman of Bowling Green, Kent Cullen Beckman of Lone Oak and Philip Wesley Beckman and wife Phyllis of Zachary, LA; five grandchildren, Amanda (Chris) Balcerzak of Lone Oak, Emily (Brian) Thompson of Fishers, IN, Brynnan Beckman of Bowling Green, Melanie Beckman and Scott Beckman of Zachary, LA; two great-grandchildren Daniel and Hannah Balcerzak of Lone Oak; one sister, Talitha Evans of Nashville, IL; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; Fred Henry and Martha Decker Beckman of Nashville, Illinois; daughter-in-law, Dianne Beckman; three sisters, Ione Beckman, Louise Beckman, Doris Stuckey.

Services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at the Lone Oak Chapel of Milner & Orr Funeral Home with Rev. Stan Reid officiating. Burial will follow at Spring Creek Church of Christ Cemetery in Dogwood in Graves County. Visitation will be held Wednesday, March 11, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. until service time at the funeral home.

Expression of sympathy may be made to St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis TN 38105 or to Norton Children’s Hospital, 231 E. Chestnut, Louisville, KY 40202.