Michael Beach

Funeral services were held Friday for Michael Ray Beach, 59, of Cordell, at the Calvary Baptist Church in Cordell.

Beach died Monday, Nov. 30, 2015, at his home.

He was born Aug. 29, 1956, in Fidelity, Ill., and graduated in 1974 from Southwestern High School at Piasa, Ill. He married Rita Castleberry that same year at Carlinville, Ill., and the couple moved to Cordell in 1978.

Beach worked six years for the City of Cordell before going to Kiwash Electric Cooperative where he had been employed for the past 23 years.

“Marble Mike,” as he was called, enjoyed making marbles, hunting, trading, and visiting with friends and family. He also enjoyed the time he spent at Kiwash with his co-workers who became close friends.

Mike and Rita did not have any children of their own but had many who became “their kids,” raising some as their own.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Rita, in 2014, and by his mother, Helen Roberta Goodman-Thurston, and his step-father, Frank Goodman.

Survivors include a daughter, Cherie Olson, and her husband, Jeff, of Edgewood, N.M.; brothers and sisters Roger and Fran Goodman, Jan Goodman, Terry Goodman, Lee Goodman, Zelma Naugle and Patsy Scoggins; special family friends Marcus and Kristen Dowell and their children, Katelynn, Kolby and Kara, of Cordell; godchildren Tonya Houseman, Tammy Edwards and Heather Davenport; and his late wife’s sisters, brothers and their families.

Rev. Roy Dewees officiated at the funeral, which was directed by Ray and Martha’s Funeral Home of Hobart. Burial will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Medora Cemetery at Medora, Ill.