Union: Services for Mr. Ross Beckham will be held at 11:00am, Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at  Milling Funeral Home Chapel of Union. Burial will be held at Rocky Hill Church of God Cemetery. Bro. Rusty Walton will be officiating.

Visitation will be held from 10:00-11:00am, prior to Chapel services on Wednesday.

Mr. Ross Beckham, age 95, passed away on Saturday, July 22, 2023.

He was self- employed owner and operator of Beckham Tire Company in Escatawpa, Ms. It was a service station, a small convenience store, and a tire shop. He sold live bait there as well at one time. He would work 12 to 15 hour days with only one day off a week, Sunday. He never missed a day's work, except closing his business for a day on two separate occasions for two funerals- for his father –in- law, Oscar Bassett, and his own father, Ralph Beckham. He was 6'1" and strong as an ox. His arms were muscular from swinging a ten pound sledge hammer to beat the old tires off the rims of his customer's vehicles.

He talked about how strong he was in his younger days. He said he could pick up the back end of a car, with both back wheels lifted. These were heavy 1950's and 1960's cars made with real metal. He said people would come to his "old" service station, the old Amoco station on highway 63, just to see if what they heard about him was true. They would make a bet that he couldn't do it, and he'd prove them wrong every time. As tough and rugged as he was, he was also blessed with intelligence and musical ability. He read and entire set of encyclopedias and could strike up a conversation about all kinds of subjects- plants, animal species, music, you name it. He was very knowledgeable about the Bible as well. He could talk hours about scriptures, genealogy and historical facts found in the Bible. He taught himself how to play the guitar and the fiddle when he was a teenager. He was in a band with some of his friends when he was in high school. They won first place in a state-wide talent competition. The band went on to compete in national talent competition at Kansas City. He played by ear and had hundreds of songs memorized. He even wrote songs and played them. He could tune fiddles, guitars, most stringed instruments in perfect pitch by ear. He could do card tricks by memorizing how the cards were lined up in the deck. He got a kick out of stumping people with card tricks, math puzzles, riddles, tricks with burned matches, tricks with forks and spoons. He would always laugh and get the biggest kick from watching the bewildered looks on the faces of those whom he showed the tricks to. When he laughed, he resembled his mother.

He won the title of checker champion and a check for $200 in a checker competition in Mobile, Alabama in the late 60's. He took checkers seriously. He studied checker strategies written in a book published by a checker champion. He actually found errors in some of the checker plays mentioned in the book. He wrote the author and shared his findings.

He was an avid fisherman and hunter. He brought home fish, squirrels, quail and rabbit for his wife to cook. He would talk about camping out on the river and running trot lines with Fred, Glenn and Rufus. There was a story about squirrel hunting and almost getting caught shooting over the limit. He said they knew the game warden was after them, so they had to think of a way to get rid of all the extra squirrels. They threw the extras out of the vehicle window before the warden got to them and was luckily not fined.

He was married to his wife, Yvonne in 1948, when we was 21 and she was 17. They had six children, four boys and two girls. They were married for 69 years. He loved his children very much. In fact, he loved everyone. He put others before himself. He was an humble man and grateful for what he had. He led by example. He is now at home with his wife and children, Mike and Angie.  He was the best dad ever

Survivors:

3 Sons: Lanny Ross Beckham, Sr. (Sara)

David Beckham (JoAnn)

Rick Beckham (Bonita)

1 Daughter: Julie Dominy (Bob)

10 Grandchildren

11 Great-Grandchildren

2 Brothers: Fred Beckham

Glen Beckham

2 Sisters: Lavern Hays

Thellis Johnson

Mr. Ross Beckham is preceded in death by his wife: Yvonne Beckham, one daughter: Angie Beckham, and one grandson: Lanny Beckham, Jr., and one son: Michael Beckham.

Family and friends will serve as pallbearers.