Carla Beck, 89, Two Harbors, died Wednesday, June 19, 2024, at St. Lukes Hospital in Duluth with her children by her side.
Carla was born March 5, 1935, to Esther (Neihless) and Carl Huseby in Two Harbors. Carla grew up in Little Marais and attended school in Grand Marais, where she graduated in 1953.
Carla married John Beck on November 12, 1955, and they began their lives together living in a house next to Bills Mount Silver Motel and Cabins on Silver Cliff Bay. After a couple of years, Carla and John moved to French River where they raised their two children until they built their new home in Knife River Valley in 1977.
Carla loved fishing and spending time on area lakes with John and the kids. Her determination to catch a fish often led to long hours on the water. She would not allow the family to leave the lake until at least one fish was caught! Her love of fishing also meant many nights spent in a tent, then a travel trailer, and eventually a cabin on Pequaywan Lake. Carla loved to make fish cakes using the recipe passed down from her mother. Her favorite fish cakes were made with fresh Lake Superior herring that she often got from her cousin’s husband, Walter Sve.
Carla’s love of the outdoors and animals led to the family always having pets in the house. Because she wanted their poodle to be neatly groomed, she trained and became a dog groomer and then groomed all the neighborhood dogs. She also loved birdwatching and always kept bird feeders around the house. She loved the variety of birds that would visit and had many methods of keeping squirrels away; she would even chase bears away from the feeders using only a broom and her stern scolding voice.
Carla had many other hobbies that she enjoyed taking part in. She was a member of the Woman of the Moose Volleyball Team for many years. She enjoyed snowmobiling, playing games, and putting puzzles together with her family and friends. She especially loved building puzzles and playing cards with her kids, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her strong competitive nature meant no “gimmes” when playing with her, no matter what your age. She was known for her famous line “Be there!” commanding the deck to give her the card she needed. She passed down many card playing lessons, including how to best hold your cards and never to sit with your back to the window. She also loved playing bingo and spending time at Casinos. It seemed like every time Carla put any money in a slot machine, she came away a winner. She was LUCKY-LUCKY-LUCKY. As much as she loved to speak of her winnings, she never let us in on how much she lost. Carla shared a love of country music with John. They went to many country concerts around the country and in Nashville. They attended WeFest for 25 years, often buying VIP tickets. They loved polka music and spent many weekends dancing and socializing at the Knife River Valley Club with friends and family.
Carla had multiple jobs over her lifetime. She started working as a waitress in her teens at Smith’s Coffee Shop at Cross River and Taconite Harbor Cafe in Schroeder.
After she married John, her jobs included; a house cleaner and personal attendant for a resident at Encampment, worked in retail for Carlson Apparel in Two Harbors, later moving on to Sears in Duluth, then to the Maurices Distribution Center also in Duluth.
In addition to these jobs, she also worked as an Avon Lady and a house cleaner in the French River area. Carla had a strong passion for crafting, creating dozens of different types of crafts over the years. It seemed there was nothing she couldn’t learn to do when she put her mind to it, earning her the title “Crafty Lady”. She was always looking for new patterns and ideas for things to make and she never stopped learning.
Some of her most popular items over the years were decorative photo albums, crocheted dolls, ceramics, 3D pictures, hand embroidered dish towels, hand crotched hand towels, and t-shirts. At one point in her crafting career she partnered with a group of other crafters and opened the Country Crafts craft store in Two Harbors which was in business for approximately eight years during the 1980’s to early 1990’s. Carla started the Agate Bay Crafters in January 1993 with fifteen other crafters and was President from 2000 to 2014.
She also coordinated the Heritage Days Craft Show from 1997 to 2009. Carla loved traveling the country with John on their fifth wheel, and it was during their travels that they discovered the Mountain Cactus Ranch RV and Trailer Park in Yuma, Arizona.
Carla went on to spend 23 winters there while spending the summer months in Two Harbors. Carla made many close friends at the ranch. She helped cook spaghetti along with many other dinners and served ice cream sundaes for folks in the park. She also helped a group of women at the ranch who stuffed hand-sewn stockings filled with goodies for long haul truck drivers that could not be home for Christmas.
She had a special place in her heart for truck drivers as both her husband and brother Marvin worked as truck drivers at times during their careers. For many years, the women hung the treat-filled bags on Christmas Eve from the mirrors of the big rigs at Yuma, AZ truck stops. She sold her place in Yuma and moved back to Two Harbors in 2023.
Carla made a positive impact on the communities she lived in and will be greatly missed by her close friends and family. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband John; sister Paula Johnson; brothers Donald Huseby and Leo Lahti. She is survived by brothers David (Thea) Huseby, Raymond (Ina) Huseby, and Marvin Lahti; daughter Kim Turnquist; son Ronald (Cheryl) Beck; grandchildren Chase (Ebba) Turnquist, Amber Johnson, Lance (Amy) Beck, Drew Turnquist, Zachary Turnquist, Taylor Beck, and Garrett Beck; Great-Grandchildren Jade Johnson, Hans Turnquist, Elin Turnquist, Rose Gregor, Michael Turnquist, and Ebin Turnquist; several nieces and nephews.
The funeral Service will be held on July 18th at 1:00 p.m. at the Cavallin Funeral Home in Two Harbors. A Celebration of Life will follow at 3:00 pm at the Two Harbors Moose Club. To share a memory or leave an online condolence, visit www.cavallinfuneralhome.com.
