Eileen Beckwith, former Three Arts Club resident, passes away

Eileen Patricia Beckwith, 84, of Pierre, died Sunday, December 13, 2009 at her home.

Memorial Services will be held at 10:00am, Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at Community Bible Church, Pierre.

Eileen was born October 11, 1925. When she was a few weeks old, she was adopted by the Orwall family in the Chicago area.

Years later, her adopted mother, Margaret, developed some of the first Burger King restaurants in the United States. Her adopted father, Solomon, was a Secretary to the Vice President of International Harvester, Vice President of United Benefit Life Insurance.

After high school graduation, she was accepted into the Three Arts Club, an exclusive boarding place for girls to study art, and also did some modeling for a catalogue company. She was gifted as a sketch and water color artist, and her art work has been a blessing to many.

She met Walter Beckwith in Chicago and on July 1st, 1944, they were married. God blessed their marriage with six children, and she often told of her immense joy at the birth of each of her six children.

Eileen was an active member of the Murdo Community Bible Church and Pierre Community Bible Church.

She was a dedicated homemaker, talented water color and sketch artist, an excellent bookkeeper and loving friend and mother. However, none of her experiences matched the joy of her salvation. In 1953, with tears streaming down her face, she went forward to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. God filled her life with grace and strength to walk through many difficult times.

Grateful for having shared in her life are her sons; David Beckwith, Carl Beckwith, and Dean Beckwith; her daughters, Nancy Christiansen and Grace Beckwith; ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband and one son, Gregg. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be given in her memory to the Pierre Community Bible. Church.

This obituary comes from this source:
http://www.feigumfh.com/sitemaker/sites/Feigum1/obit.cgi?user=152447Beckwith

Group Trying to Restore Club as Place for the Arts

A new coalition has formed of people from the Friends of the Three Arts, people from the Gold Coast neighborhood, etc. We are trying to see if we can figure out a way to buy the Three Arts Club building, restore it, and turn it into a vital, internationally- important place for people in music, dance, theater, writing, film, painting, sculpture, etc.

Right now, we are searching for a major name/ major donor to back this plan and also to act as a leader for the future of this plan. We need someone that can put some major money into this, and this can be structured to suit that person. We also need someone with deep vision and interest in the arts and communication.

In the future, the Three Arts Club could be a place for women (or men and women) from all over the U.S. and all over the world to come and share in a community of others interested and active in music, theater, dance, comedy, film, video, painting, sculpture, writing (novels, poetry, journalism, songs, blogs, etc), internet, design, languages, culture, etc. The idea is that this group will be like a United Nations of the Arts, and also lots of fun. We hope to make the world a better place by sharing creativity and ideas with others from the whole world.

Able to help? Please email: threeartsfriends@gmail.com