Mary Gail Beck

Mary Gail Yarbrough Beck, 62, of Owensboro, died Friday, August 25, 2006 at Owensboro Medical Health System. Born in Aniston, Alabama, a daughter of Dr. Frank Yarbrough and the late Josephine Miller Yarbrough, Mrs. Beck was a graduate of Owensboro High School, attended Vanderbilt University, received a bachelors degree from Kentucky Wesleyan College, and Masters Degrees from Western Kentucky University and Southern Indiana University. In 1990, Mrs. Beck was one of 35 people nationally, and the only Kentuckian to receive the Victory Award by the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C for having triumphed over mental illness. The award included a visit at the White House with then first lady Barbara Bush. Mrs. Beck had worked with mental health facilities and had been a member of the Green River Alliance for the Mentally Ill, an advocacy and support group.

In addition to her father, survivors include her husband, Robert Beck; her sister, Barbara Posey of Vienna, VA; her brother, Frank L. Yarbrough, Jr. of Seattle; and her cousins, Cindy Davis Attard and Berkley Davis, Jr.

Services, officiated by the Rev. Phillip Curran, are 11:30 a.m. Monday at First Christian Church. Visitation will be at Glenn Funeral Home from 2:00 until 6:00 p.m. Sunday and from 9:00 until 11:00 a.m. Monday. Burial will be in Owensboro Memorial Gardens.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to the Mental Health Association of Kentucky, 120 Sears Avenue, Suite 213, Louisville, KY 40207-5072.