Beck to be Honored in ‘Celebration of Life’

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

A special Celebration of Life will be held to honor former Mesquite City Clerk Tracy Beck on Monday, Oct. 30 at 5 pm at Mesquite City Hall in Council Chambers. All of the community is invited.
Beck passed away on September 23, 2023

She served as City Clerk for nearly a decade and served as Deputy Clerk in the office before that.

In an interview with The Progress last week, Mesquite Mayor Al Litman said that Beck’s work is tremendously valued at the City and that she would be deeply missed at City Hall.

“Her demeanor was always so good,” Litman said. “She was always in her office, always smiling, always happy. She loved the job and enjoyed coming in; and she always knew what she was doing.”
Litman said that he, and many other elected officials and staff members, relied on Beck regularly for information.

“She usually knew the answer to any question,” Litman recalled. “But when she wasn’t sure she would get right to work on finding it. Within about 15 minutes she would have what was needed.”

Beck had worked in the post since 2015. Most of that time she served alone in the Clerk’s office without a Deputy Clerk, because of city budget concerns.

Beck worked hard to earn a Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) designation from the International Institute of Professional Clerks which she received in August of 2022.
“She was always a pleasure to work with,” Litman said. “She was good at her job; managing a ton of paperwork and always was meticulously organized.”

Beck was born on March 12, 1958 in Los Angeles. She attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, graduating in the class of 1975.

She went to work right out of high school at the University of California, Los Angeles food services department. She spent her entire career at UCLA, retiring in 2008 as the manager in charge of food services.

During that time, Beck met her first husband, Jack Beck, and became a stepmother to his three children: Michael, Timothy and Tammy. Jack passed away in 2000.

Beck later met Steven Clutterham to whom she was married in 2008. They had one daughter, Lorraine Cantu.

In an interview last week, Cantu recalled Beck as a “fun-loving person who always loved to laugh.”
Beck was a big Star Wars fan. She enjoyed reading in her spare time and she loved turtles.
“Most of all, she loved my dad,” Cantu said. “It was kind of sickening at times. But it was also very sweet.”

Beck and Clutterham moved to Mesquite after Beck’s retirement. They were drawn to Mesquite because of its small town lifestyle with its access to gaming.

But Beck couldn’t stay retired for long. Within a year of the move, she was seeking employment again. She worked for a time for Black Gaming in food services. Then in 2013 she took a job as Deputy City Clerk where she stayed until being appointed to the City Clerk position in 2015.

While working at the City, Beck was also involved in many community endeavors. Perhaps most notable was her association with the annual Parade of Lights Food Drive.

Parade of Lights founders Mike and Debbie Benham got in touch with Beck in 2015. They presented their idea of establishing a holiday parade as a way of gathering food for the Salvation Army food pantry. They asked her for help in getting it started.

“She immediately realized that this was a big deal to us,” said Debbie Benham. “She saw that it was a way of giving back for us. And she immediately caught the vision.”

Beck helped them with paperwork, shepherded it through the proper approvals and provided the Benhams with contacts to seek further community support.

In fact, in June of this year, Beck completed the process of finally gaining a non-profit 501c3 tax status for the Parade of Lights organization. The process took more than 6 months of paperwork and has resulted in a more firm future for the holiday parade going forward, Benham said.
“The Parade of Lights would have never gotten off the ground without her!” Benham said of Beck. “We will miss her greatly. The City will truly be at a loss without her.”