Kenneth Jay Beckwith

Ken Beckwith, our beloved father, grandfather, and brother passed away at his daughter’s home in Salt Lake City Utah on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, after a nearly year-long battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. He was 84 years old.

Ken was a mechanic, a millwright welder, a pilot, a flight instructor, and stunt pilot. He retired as the maintenance supervisor for all PP&L coal-fired power plants west of the Mississippi in 1990. He returned to school after retirement and earned a Certificate of Higher Education in Jet Aircraft Maintenance and repaired jet engines. He developed an interest in competitive long-distance shooting and became an expert in ballistics. He was inquisitive and constantly challenged himself to learn and do more. The more difficult the task, the better. He was an engineer at heart and in practice. He was also an incredible athlete riding his mountain bike 20 miles every day, lifting weights, running, snowshoeing, and backpacking for the last 40 years of his life. Like his hobbies, his work was characterized by his meticulous nature, and a predisposition for precision. He never attempted anything without doing his best, and he never quit – ever.

He imbued in his children and grandchildren a strong sense of love and duty to family and to the world. He taught them to do their best to make the world a better place, to be kind to others, to love animals and have respect for all living things, to cherish and honor their friends, to admit to their mistakes, to understand that they were no better than anyone else, to live in the moment, to never stop learning, and most of all, to never stop laughing. He laughed, and his children laughed with him, until the very end.

Ken was preceded in death by his parents, Richard Harrison Beckwith and Rosa Belle Blair; his Wife, Patricia Mae Beckwith; his brothers David Beckwith and Richard Keith Beckwith; his granddaughter Stephanie Victoria Gil; his mother and father-in-law Claude Havens and Edna Mae Havens Graham and his daughter-in-law, Tammy Ann Beckwith.

He is survived by his three children, Lisa Rae Beckwith of Boise, Idaho, Lori Jae Beckwith of Cottonwood Heights, Utah, and Richard Warren Beckwith of Rock Springs, Wyoming; his son-in-law Nolan Letellier of Boise, Idaho; his Sisters, Diane Castleton and Husband Neil of Pocatello, Idaho, and Sheila Reeder of Seabeck, Washington; his grandchildren Claude Sageon Beckwith and wife Hannah of Olympia, Washington, August Aschel Beckwith of Cottonwood Heights, Utah, Luci Letellier and Finch Letellier of Boise Idaho, Melody Rose and Husband Mike of Colorado, and Cameron Hill of Denver, Colorado; and, many cousins, nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 16 at 2:00 pm at the LDS Church in Mountain View, Wyoming at 116 4^th Street. A private viewing for close friends and family 1:00 pm. Following the memorial service, there will be a private graveside service followed by a meal at the LDS Church where all are welcome.

Flowers may be sent by contacting The Bokay, 104 Mountain Meadow Street, Lyman, Wyoming 82937 tel. (307) 786-2652.