Guthrie resident relishes dedication to volunteering

Bob Beck said his early life was one of struggles and poverty, constantly moving with his transient family and living in 45 states throughout his childhood.

Now 85, he can reflect on his lifelong dedication of volunteering to help others, which has earned him recognition around Guthrie, one of the towns in which he grew up.

“Volunteering gave me something to do when I moved back here, but I truly enjoy helping people,” Beck said.

Originally from Indianapolis, Beck attended the original Guthrie High School and graduated in 1956. He didn’t exactly get much sleep. At night, he worked the graveyard shifts from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. at the old furniture factory that used to be on West College during his last two years of high school.

Despite the hard work and little rest, Beck couldn’t keep any of the money he made because his aggressive father forced the teenager to hand it to his parents since they were so poor.

Shortly after graduating, Beck got married, had a baby and took off to Salem, Ore., in 1958.

He quickly began to help his new community and has been volunteering since his teenage years. First, he volunteered as a firefighter and a policeman with both the Dallas (Oregon) Fire Department and the Salem Police Department.

Beck picked strawberries in Oregon until he got a job checking oil and tires at a service station, which were popular in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. After managing a 76 Service Station, he got a job delivering furniture with King’s Furniture in Salem.

During the 20th century, the Rubenstein Furniture Company was one of the finest, most-established furniture stores in the Northwest and a store had opened in Salem when Beck was delivering furniture for the other company.

Beck told his boss at King’s that he was going to apply at Rubenstein’s. However, his boss wanted him to stay and keep delivering furniture.

When Beck went into the new store to meet Bob Rubenstein and Bill Blakely for a possible job, they said to Beck, “You look kinda scrawny … I’m not sure you can carry hide-a-beds or heavy furniture.”

Knowing they were unaware of his firefighter background, Beck said: “If I can pick you up from that chair and carry you all around the block and come back and sit you back down in that spot, is there anything in this store I couldn’t handle?”

He was hired on the spot. After mulling over the hire, Beck decided to put in his two weeks notice at King’s and his boss said, “As soon as business slows down at Rubenstein’s, they’ll get rid of you. Stick with us, and you’ll have a job forever.”

But, two years later, King’s went out of business. Beck went from delivering furniture to the sales manager position at Rubenstein’s, and 27 years later, he was still with Rubenstein’s, albeit commuting to the Portland store.

One day, Beck was looking to sell his car. When his wife, at the time, told him that a woman had been walking into Fred Meyer (like a Wal-Mart), dragging three or four kids in a wagon about a mile from town because she did not have a car, Beck decided to help her.

“I’ll give you the car if you really need it. If you’re going to sell it, you can’t have it,” Beck told the woman.

She made her way to Beck’s workplace and took the car. Beck had forgotten about the situation four years later, when the woman called him, saying the car was no longer worth repairing and that she would give Beck the money she got from scrapping it.

“I told her, ‘It’s your money!’ I couldn’t believe she kept my name and phone number all those years. It made me feel so good,” he said.

Beck spent a great deal of his free time outdoors in Oregon, absolutely loving it. His favorite, and first, mountain he climbed was South Sister, one of the three South, Middle and North Sister mountains. Biking and hiking all over the state, Beck also reached the summit of Mount Hood, the tallest mountain in Oregon, and twice climbed Mount St. Helens.

Following his retirement and a divorce in 2018, Beck moved back to Guthrie to reconnect with some of his high school friends from the class of ‘56.

“I lived in the capital of Oregon for 60 years; I was like a little fish in a big pond. I moved back to this little town and almost everybody knows me now, I feel like a big fish in a small pond!” Beck said.

He has been a volunteer for numerous organizations in Guthrie, including: the International Bluegrass Festival, American Legion, Guthrie Chamber of Commerce, Logan County Council on Aging, Renaissance Fair, Victorian Walk, Territorial Christmas and the 89er Parade committee.

During the COVID crisis, Beck delivered Meals on Wheels five days a week for two years straight, wearing proper protection, including gloves and a mask.

One of his favorite people to see when volunteering is 105-year-old Della Hawthorn, who still comes to Highland Hall every day with no walker on the First Capital Trolley. Beck loved driving in the 89er Parade and wearing his kilt, which he got in Scotland during the Renaissance Fair.

He was unexpectedly honored with the Volunteer of the Year award during dinner with the Chamber of Commerce in 2022.

“It was such a surprise, I felt like Gomer Pyle from the show ‘USMC,’ because all I could say was, ‘Gee, golly! Thank you, thank you’,” said Beck, jokingly.

Beck is an outdoorsman, but he’s an artist as well. Technically, he’s a pyrographer, which means he burns art onto wood. He has sold artworks for hundreds of dollars, such as a Marilyn Monroe piece. Most of his art is now with his family in the Northwest.

He still maintains a great physique and encourages others to stay active.

And, of course, he’d like to see more volunteers.

“The community needs help,” he said. “People need to think that they should help others here.”