BECKMANN, Phillip Haynes "Phil"

BECKMANN, HAYNES, WALDEN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/6/2016 at 17:02:01

BIOGRAPHY of PHILLIP HAYNES "PHIL" BECKMANN
Graceland University, Lamoni, Decatur County, Iowa

Phillip Haynes Beckman was born November 28, 1920, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [the son of Karl William Arthur and Mary Ruth (Haynes) Beckman]. He was a World War II Veteran, serving as an EM/1st Class in the U.S. Navy.

Phil was employed with the college's Physical Plant while enrolled as a Graceland student. He joined that staff full-time after receiving his associate's degree in 1948 and helped in the construction of the Physical Plant building that was being completed in 1950.

Beckmann then succeeded Evan Walden as Physical Plant director in January 1953, and had a hand in no less than 10 major facility projects on campus during the following 30 years. He oversaw construction of the 1956 football field and track (later called the Bruce Jenner Sports Complex, Tess Morgan Hall (1960; 1967), the Floyd M. McDowell Commons (1961), the east-side addition to the Memorial Student Center (1962), the 1965 Gunsolley Annex (later called Graybill Hall), the Frederick Madison Smith Library (1966), the Eugene E. Closson Physical Education Center (1969), the conversion of Zimmerman Hall into a classroom facility (1971), the Roy A. Cheville Chapel (1978), and The Shaw Center (1982).

He retired in 1986 and eventually moved to Bella Vista, Arkansas.

NOTE: Phil died on January 7, 2005 at Bella Vista, Arkansas. He was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Lamoni, Iowa.

SOURCES:
Goehner, David. “The Graceland College Book of Knowledge: From A To Z.” p. 391. Herald House. Independence MO. 1997.

Rose Hill Cemetery transcription

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2016

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