It is with sadness that I am reporting that Ted Becker passed away on the morning of January 20, 2024, at the age of 80. Ted was admitted to Bellevue Overlake Hospital on August 19, 2022, after he experienced extreme fatigue and difficulty breathing, and ultimately was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. After several weeks, some in the ICU, he recovered enough to be transferred to a care hospital in Seattle, and then on to a care hospital in Everett, where he has been for most of the time since.
He was making slow progress towards recovery and working with PT and OT personnel to build up strength, looking forward to the time he could return to his home. Unfortunately, while at the care hospital, he contracted a MRSA infection, then contracted Covid. Somewhat recovered from those infections, he then came down with pneumonia, which resulted in another trip to the ICU, this time at Providence Hospital in Everett. He recovered enough to leave Providence and go back to the care hospital a couple of weeks ago, although once again he was intubated. It is suspected that a blood clot caused his death.
Ted was a long-time member of the NMRA and the Fourth Division. Both he and I go back far enough in the NMRA that we were able to take out life memberships, which category no longer exists. For several years, Ted ran the Snohomish Railfans Clinic, and would often attend 4D clinics in Kirkland and Seattle (back in the Beacon Hill Clinic days). He also attended numerous NMRA national and regional conventions. In 2015 he and I started the Mount Vernon Clinic, at the urging of fellow model railroaders Tom Buckingham and Nick Muff (the four of us had been driving each month over to the Oak Harbor Clinic).
After retiring from Boeing, he and his companion, Janie, built a house outside of Granite Falls. The house included a railroad room, of course, and he spent many happy hours designing (and redesigning) his layout and building (and rebuilding) it.
While hospitalized, Ted made use of his laptop computer and spent many hours working out a new layout design for his layout room. He, like most model railroaders, was always dreaming and imagining his next layout. He also, at my request, drafted up some CAD plans for a snowshed for my layout, which I have just about completed. He was quite adept at CAD drafting.
Ted was also an avid radio control airplane enthusiast and was a member of a couple of flying clubs in the Monroe area.
His wealth of knowledge and years of experience in our hobby, and his willingness to help others, will be sorely missed in the Fourth Division.
Respectfully, Al Carter, Mount Vernon Clinic
