Bernard F. "Butch" Beckham

Funeral Services for Bernard F. “Butch” Beckham, 76, of Calhoun, LA, will be held at 2:00 PM, Sunday, October 4, 2020, in the chapel of Mulhearn Funeral Home in West Monroe, LA, with Brother Rick Crandall officiating. Interment will follow in Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery in Monroe, LA.

Visitation will be held Saturday, October 3, 2020, from 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM at Mulhearn Funeral Home in West Monroe, LA.

Pallbearers will be deputies from the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Department and police officers from the Monroe Police Department. Honorary pallbearers will be nephews.

Bernard “Butch” Beckham was born on October 7, 1943, in Monroe, LA, to Bernard and Opal Cummings Beckham (Jones). Butch passed away, unexpectedly, on October 1, 2020. Butch graduated from Ouachita Parish High School in 1961 and attended Northeast Louisiana University for 2 years. Having been raised by his grandparents, Virgil and Emma Cummings, Butch followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and began his 40 plus years in law enforcement. He began his 23-year career with the Monroe Police Department in Monroe, LA, in 1966. During his years of service, he was the department’s lead Haz-Mat responder until he retired in 1989 as patrol Captain; he then worked with the Ouachita Parish District Attorney’s Office as the Director of Check Enforcement from 1989-1997; he later served the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office from July 1997 until his retirement in September 2007. Upon retiring from OPSO, Butch became the Director of the Ouachita Parish Office Homeland Security from 2008-2010.

Butch served as an adjunct professor with LSU for 14 years; with North Delta Regional Academy for 20 years; with New Mexico State University at Socorro; and with the Northeast Louisiana Regional Law Enforcement Academy, until his final retirement in 2010 when he left to spend time with his recently retired wife. He dedicated his life to law enforcement and enjoyed the time he spent serving his community.

As a member, past president and lieutenant governor of Kiwanis from 1972-2018, he continued to serve his community. He was the recipient in 1998 of the George Hixon Fellow by Kiwanis International and was presented the Tablet of Honor in recognition of outstanding and tireless devotion to Kiwanis and the community by the Kiwanis Club of West Monroe.
There is no doubt that Butch loved his family, dearly, as they loved him. Butch and Linda met when they were attending NLU and were married September 23, 1973. They made their home in West Monroe and later moved to Calhoun. Butch and Linda have two daughters, Eva Kristina Beckham (deceased) and Melinda Leigh Beckham Rigsby. Butch has two grandsons, Beck and Brody Rigsby, who were the light of his life. PawPaw could do no wrong in their eyes and they would run to get their shoes when PawPaw came because they knew they were going home with him.

Butch is survived by his wife, Linda; daughter, Melinda; grandsons, Beck and Brody; brothers, Randy Beckham (Vera), Jerry Beckham and Bobby Jones (Susan); sisters, Donna Tagliaferri (Raymond), Dotti Jones Parker and Michelle Jones; brothers-in-law, Edward Evans (Gayle) and Norman Evans (Nancy); nieces and nephews.

Butch is preceded in death by his parents, Bernard and Opal Cummings Beckham (Jones); his grandparents, Virgil and Emma Cummings; his daughter, Eva Kristina Beckham; son-in-law, Ryan E. Rigsby; nephew, Randy Beckham, Jr.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Med Camps of Louisiana.

Online Registry/Condolences: www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com