February 3, 1930 – March 23, 2022
Harvey Beck passed away on March 23, 2022 from complications after a fall. Harvey was born February 3rd, 1930 at his home in Tyndall, SD and was the only child of Ella and Mike Beck. He married his high school sweetheart Joyce Rohla in 1952 and graduated from Southern State Teachers College with a teaching degree in the 1950’s. Harvey taught band at Avon and Tabor and later taught chemistry, physics and biology at Tyndall High School. He then changed professions and became an electrician doing local and commercial work around the SD area.
Harvey had many interests in his life such as being a Ham Radio operator (WB0BLH), and as the local civil defense director for Bon Homme county. However, Harvey’s greatest passion was always music and he played the trumpet from age 10 to 92 and played in many bands while growing up such as The Eager Beavers, The Jack LaSalle Band, and The Hungry Five + Polka band. He was also a member of the 147th infantry unit of the National Guard band in Mitchell. Harvey and Joyce moved to Mesa, AZ in the early 1990’s and Harvey continued his musical journey by forming his own Hungry five+ polka band and performing in the Swinging Resorter’s Big Band, The Towerpoint concert band and The East Valley Pops orchestra.
He was the Master of Ceremony for all the groups. Harvey is survived by his only child, Karen Beck who resides in Mesa, Arizona. He will be remembered for his sense of humor and his ability to make people smile and whenever you hear “The Beer Barrel Polka”, you can bet he and Joyce are dancing to his favorite polka.
