Luther Elmer Becraft
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 6 Jul 1929 - Virginia Beach, Princess Anne Co, VA 1
Christening:
Death: 2 Sep 2007 - Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach, VA 1
Burial: 6 Sep 2007 - Rosewood Memorial Park, Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach Co, VA
Cause of Death:
AFN :
Events
• Soc Sec Num, 224-30-5477
dob 06 Jul 1928• Event, The Virginia-Pilot, 13 Jan 1995
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT• Obituary, The Virginian-Pilot, 4 Sep 2007
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 13, 1995 TAG: 9501110142
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
PLAYGROUND MAP GIVES STUDENTS VIEW OF NATION THE MAP WAS PAINTED ON AN OUTDOOR COURT BY THE TELEPHONE PIONEERS, A GROUP OF RETIREES.
Students at Rosemont Elementary School can visit their grandparents' hometown in Iowa, hop across to California, make a dash for the Texas panhandle and return to Virginia - without ever leaving the school playground. A 20- by 37-foot, five-color map of America painted on an outdoor court allows the students to make the quick trip.
The geographical odyssey was brought to the children by the Telephone Pioneers, a group of retired telephone company workers. It is a national group and the project is nationwide. The Rosemont map was the first one painted in South Hampton Roads, completed in just two days last fall. The Pioneers have plans to paint more United States maps once the weather turns warmer next spring.
Why Rosemont for the pilot project?
``Our granddaughter (Briget Becraft) goes to Rosemont,'' said Luther Becraft, one of eight Pioneers and Pioneer partners - or spouses - who painted the map. His wife, Margaret, helped. ``We want to paint one for Kingston Elementary. That'll probably be next, in the spring.''
Briget, 8, is a third-grader at Rosemont.
Paint is supplied to the Telephone Pioneers by Martin Senour Paint, a national company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. The volunteers use brown, yellow, red, blue and green to paint the map; 10 states for each color. The volunteers spread a clear plastic sheet, a pattern of the United States with holes on the borders. State boundaries are marked with white paint and then the states are painted in.
The map will get plenty of use, said Loneta Clement, principal of Rosemont. Fourth-graders are studying United States history and they can obviously benefit from the map. So can others.
``The map won't be restricted to any one class or type of subject,'' said Clement. ``For example, if a class is reading a book set in the U.S., they can also learn the location of the story, see where it is taking place. They can learn visually and spatially as well as intellectually.
``Everybody will use it. Art classes, music, across-the-curriculum.''
The map comes with activities, too. Children toss a bean bag and name the state it lands on, for instance. They can also play geographical hopscotch.
Vince Gillikin is a Telephone Pioneer partner, whose spouse, Estelle, worked for the company. He was one of eight Pioneers and partners to assist in the map painting project. Gillikin was only too glad to be involved.
``I once read that 60 percent of students polled couldn't identify Washington, D.C., on the map,'' he said. ``Any game to aid education sounds like a wonderful idea to me.
``This should be a great teaching aid and it didn't cost a penny to taxpayers.''
Donald McBride, Ray Altizer, Henry and Bootie Roberson and Bill Brightwell composed the remainder of the Telephone Pioneers/ Partners paint crew. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY EDWARDS
Briget Becraft skips through the states on a map that's painted on
an outdoor court at Rosemont Elementary.
Luther E. Becraft , Virginia Beach
Tuesday, Sep. 4, 2007
©The Virginian-Pilot
Luther Elmer Becraft, 79, passed away peacefully Sept. 2, 2007, in the comfort of his home surrounded by his loving family. Mr. Becraft was born July 6, 1928, to James and Ivy Becraft in Norfolk. He was employed with C&P Telephone Company until his retirement in 1981. Mr. Becraft was a 1947 graduate of Norview High School where he was on the baseball and wrestling teams and was the co-captain of the football team. He served our country proudly for 10 years in the National Guard. Luther was active in numerous professional and civic organizations. He was past president and vice president of the Telephone Pioneers of America, a member of the C&P Chorus, CWA No. 2202 and served on the board of Diamond Lake Estate Civic League. His family and friends will always remember him as a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend. His beautiful, blue eyes and the kindness he showed toward all who knew him will be deeply missed. Left to cherish his memory are his loving wife of 19 years, Margaret Becraft; and children, Bill Becraft and wife Betty, Tammy Honeycutt and husband Joe, Rick Barron and wife Nancy and Ronnie Barron; grandsons, Bo, Stephen, Dylan, Bryan and Max; granddaughters, Lindsey, Briget and Desiree; a great-granddaughter, Cadence Becraft; and a special friend, Fred Moody. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Joann Webb Becraft; son, Luther "Dink" Becraft Jr.; both parents; two brothers, Dave and James; and two sisters, Sue and Nancy. The family would like to extend a special thanks to Dr. Herbert Brewer and Dr. Mike Ryan and their staff for the years of care and professionalism they showed toward Luther. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in Rosewood-Kellum Funeral Home. A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday in Thalia Lynn Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Rosewood Memorial Park. Please share your love and condolences with the family at www.mem.com.
Parents
Father: James Alfred Becraft
Mother: Ivy Mae Davis
Spouses and Children
1. *Joann Webb
Marriage:
Status:
Children:
1. Luther Elmer "Dink" Becraft Jr.
2. William F Becraft
3. Tammy Becraft
2. Margaret
Notes
Marriage Notes (Margaret)
<http://www.uswestretiree.org/pg5.htm>
August 25, 2004
Association of BellTel Retirees
C. William Jones
President & Executive Director
Association of BellTel Retirees Inc.
Association Celebrates the 100,000th and 100,001st Members
Just short of the 9th year since the first organizational meeting, the Association signed up the 100,000th member, and a bonus, the 100,001st member ? husband and wife.
A Virginia couple, both retirees of the C & P Company, joined the Association and pushed our membership over the 100,000th mark. Margaret and Luther Becraft both had long and distinguished careers before retiring. Margaret worked for Southern Bell and Southwestern Bell before moving to C & P where she met Luther, a career C & P employee.
Of course ?retirement? is a term that does not apply to the Becrafts. They are active in their church, civic affairs, the Tidewater Chapter of the Pioneers and the CWA Local 2202 Retiree Club. If that is not enough, they have volunteered to help the Association in its legislative activities to protect the retiree pensions and benefits that we all worked so hard to secure during our careers.
The Association of BellTel Retirees is very fortunate to have two such interesting and active telephone people mark this impressive milestone.
Stay tuned.
Bill Jones
Sources
1. U.S. Government, Social Security Death Index.