LEWISTON — Glenn Joseph Beckwith of Lewiston, a Vietnam veteran who died May 5, 2006 due to health complications from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, was among 75 honored at the annual “In Memory” ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

According to Adam Arbogast, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund development and communications specialist, Beckwith was nominated for the honor by his daughter Shelly Wiles.

Formerly from Gingellville (near Lake Orion), the Beckwiths lived in the house that Glenn was raised in. They have four children and 10 grandchildren

In Vietnam, Pfc. Glenn J. Beckwith served in the U.S. Army driving Light Vehicles. After Vietnam, he ran his own company, Beckwith Trucking Inc., for 35 years.

Beckwith was an avid football and NASCAR fan. He also raced stock cars with his son, David, at Whittemore, Cass City and Autocity in Birch Run.

“He was the most loving and honest person I ever met,” said his wife, Alice, who attended the ceremony. “He loved his family dearly and we will always cherish his memory.”

The couple’s arrival to Lewiston in 1995 was unique, reported Arbogast, who had an opportunity to speak with the family following the ceremony.

The Beckwiths were meeting some friends who had a weekend property in Lewiston but their friends were running late. The Beckwiths, simply passing time, walked into Huston Real Estate and in two hours, they had the house they wanted on West Twin Lake.

Beckwith moved to Lewiston full time in 2002. Alice followed in 2005.

Beckwith was active in the American Legion in Lewiston. Alice works as a bartender at the Legion Post and at the Moose Lodge. She still lives in Lewiston.

“I’ll never leave,” she said of Lewiston. “It is the best place to live in Michigan.”

The Beckwiths have four children; David Burgess, of Birch Run, Dee Marie (Morgan) Vanopstall of Royal Palm Beach, Fla., Shelly (Fred) Wiles of Waterford, and Glenda (Eric) Coudret of Waterford. The children, along with Beckwith’s grandson Frederick James Wiles, attended the April 21 memorial.

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