Donald Beck, age 95, of Wisconsin Dells, WI, passed away peacefully on Saturday, August 31, 2024.

Don grew up in Rockford, Illinois where he was devoted to his mother and family. When he was a teenager, he worked many odd jobs including in the bicycle factory and the motor pool at the POW camp with captured German soldiers.

He left Rockford to join the Forest Service in Idaho and then began a long career in the US Air Force. His first assignment was as a tail gunner on a B17 in Korea. He became a pilot who flew in Europe and Asia. His service as the first pilot to fly 100 missions over Laos and North Viet Nam is honored at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. He retired from the Air Force after more than 25 years of service. He and his wife, Nancy, moved to the Rio Grand Valley where he went on to teach electronics at Texas State Technical College in Harlingen. He was so proud of each student that he helped place in career jobs with Texas Instruments and other Texas fiber optics companies. After he retired from TSTC, he enjoyed photography, crafting stained glass, driving to Air Force reunions and events with Nancy's family. After Nancy passed away, he left Texas to marry Val Jenkins in Briggsville, Wisconsin. They had been classmates in high school and kept in touch through reunions and mutual friends. They enjoyed traveling, finding new restaurants and hanging out with neighbors.

Don is survived by his wife Val, daughter Deb and her family, son Don and his family, sisters Linnea Van Barriger and Aldena Herrman and brother Leon Johnson.

Burial will be held on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 11:00 A.M. at the Wisconsin Veterans Cemetery in King, Wisconsin.