The Rev. Allen Jack Beck, a retired Baptist minister and missionary who preached in Baltimore and Harford County, died of Parkinson's disease July 3 at Manor Care South in York, Pa. The longtime Jarrettsville resident was 83.
"He was a man of prayer and had a great passion for the word of God," said the Rev. John W. Manry, who succeeded Mr. Beck as pastor of North Harford Baptist Church upon his retirement in 1989.
"He used to type books of the Bible so he could meditate on them. It was his way of studying the Bible," he said.
Born in Detroit, he moved with his family to Cumberland, where he graduated from Fort Hill High School in 1941. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1942, and after training at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was assigned as a weather map plotter in Europe.
Following his discharge in 1946, he immediately enlisted in the Army, serving in a weather squadron until being discharged a second time in 1948. After leaving the Army, he returned to Cumberland, where he was manager of Queen City Dairy and sold insurance for Lincoln Insurance Co.
Mr. Beck was a founder of Bedford Road Baptist Church in Cumberland and later was secretary and treasurer of the Baptist Convention of Maryland.
In 1955, he moved to Baltimore and became an administrator with Camp-Wo-Me-To near Rocks State Park in Harford County. Five years later, he began his career preaching at a revival meeting at Goodwill Baptist Church in Pocomoke.
Mr. Beck, who did not attend a seminary, was ordained a pastor at Belvedere Baptist Church in Baltimore in 1961.
Later that year, he became pastor of Bedford Road Baptist Church in Cumberland. He remained there until 1969, when he was appointed pastor of North Harford Baptist Church in Jarrettsville.
"He was a great mentor who groomed me. He gave me preaching time on Sunday nights so I would develop and church members would have a chance to get to know me. He also gave me a role by including me in weddings and funerals," recalled Mr. Manry.
"When he was in the pulpit, he could express emotion and verses very fervently, and when excited would shout out at times. He was an exhorter, and if he felt the Scriptures needed that, that's what he did," he said.
Mr. Beck previously had served on the board of the Baltimore Rescue Mission and in the 1970s hosted a weekly radio show, Five Minutes With You, on WDAC-FM in Lancaster, Pa.
He began making missionary visits at that time to Haiti, where he helped build churches, schools and orphanages for more than 20 years.
"He had a ready heart when it came to missionaries," Mr. Manry said.
"It was amazing work. He also made sure that the children in Haiti were given two meals a day," said a daughter, Sara L. Schroers of Hampstead.
During the early 1990s, Mr. Beck was on the faculty of the Baltimore School of the Bible.
He also established the Mission Travel Society, which provided visiting missionaries with free use of an automobile during their stays in the United States. "He'd go to auctions and buy several cars, which he used for the society," Mrs. Schroers said.
After moving to Dallastown, Pa., in 1989, he joined North Hills Baptist Church, where he was an elder and Sunday school teacher.
"Jack Beck's ministry went in two directions. He loved doing God's work and working with missions," Mr. Manry said.
"He had a deep passion for sharing his love of the Lord, felt blessed with a large and loving family, and was always a constant source of encouragement and strength," Mrs. Schroers said.
His wife of 25 years, the former Evelyne Rebecca Isom, died in 1968.
Services were held Sunday.
Also surviving are his wife of 37 years, the former Jean Evans; three sons, A. Joseph Beck of Catonsville, and J. Nathan Beck and Bryan E. Beck, both of White Hall; seven other daughters, Suzanne B. Getz of Meadville, Pa., Elizabeth B. Mentzer of Belcamp, Christine B. McAllister of Powhatan, Va., Miriam B. Dimitriadis and Charis J. Cooney, both of Bel Air, Ruth A. Edwards of Delta, Pa., and Carol A. Cooney of Oakton, Va.; 28 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Another daughter, Kathryn DeAra, died in 1993.
fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com