In Memory

Donald Emanuel Beckwith - Class Of 1963 VIEW PROFILE

 

Clearfield City Cemetery

   

 



 
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01/21/15 10:40 PM #1    

Theron Jensen (Jensen) (1964)

I doubt there were two Donny Beckwiths' so this must be the one I remember. Donny was one year older that I, and a very good friend. We entered the Air Force together in June, 1963. For family reasons I dropped out of HS after the 11th grade, but always said my High School was Clearfield High. Donny had attended Catholic schools through the 11th grade, but he was big and strong and decided to go to pulbic school in his senior year so he could play football. Unfortunatly he was injured in practice before his first game was ever played. It was a pretty severe knee injury and he was in a full leg cast for part of his senior year. After joining the Air Force we went to Lackland AFB in Texas. The strains of boot camp put him in the Hospital because of his knee and he eventually received a medical discharge. I saw him again several years later, he was working as a mechanic in a garage in Salt Lake City.

Here are a few other stories. Donny was a gifted natural mechanic. Chrysler Corp had a trouble shooting contest where they would create a problem in a car and challenge the aspiring mechanic to find it. In Donnys case they put a ball bearing in the fuel line so the fuel would flow just enough to start the engine but not enough to drive the car. He found the problem in record time.

Donny was building a old car and needed a rear end. We drove up past Hill Air Force base to a field where there was an abonded car, it had been there for a long time. He told me to back up to it and I did, not knowing what he had in mind. He threw a rope over the car, attached it to my bumper and told me to drive forward, which I did. The car was rolled over on its top and in less that 10 minutes he had the axle out and sticking out my trunk. 

One day we were hiking in the foothills to the East of Hill Airforce Base. We found an old mine entrance and as we looked further found an old box of dynamite and blasting caps. We felt it was our civic duty to remove this hazard from public exposure, so Donny grabbed the partial box of dynamite and I took the blasting caps. We walked back down the trail totally unaware of the danger in our hands. We put them in the trunk of my Buick ,drove down a rocky road, and back to my house, where we called the police to report our find. That led to the bomb squad showing up, and us retracing our steps to the mine, with the police.

Donny was a good friend. I joined this forum to see what had happened to firends I once knew and was sad to see he had passed away in 1978. His profile should be changed to show he was an Air Force veteran, not Army, unless, of course, this is not the Donny Beckwith I knew.

 


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