Louise Thornton Becton

Louise Thornton Becton passed away peacefully at her home on January 23, 2019 surrounded by loved ones. She was 91 years old. She was born on March 1, 1927 in Chester, Pa. She was an honor graduate from Radnor High School in Wayne, Pa. During her time there she met the love of her life, Julius Wesley Becton, Jr. who was the star of the rival football team at Lower Merion High School. They were married on January 29, 1948. After high school Louise graduated from nursing school at Mercy-Douglass Hospital in Philadelphia. Over the years that followed she completed her BSN degree at Prairie View A&M University and worked as a registered nurse in hospitals, academic research, elementary and middle schools, and finally as a hospice nurse at the hospice of Northern Virginia. She was also a lifelong member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Nursing was her calling but her true passions were lived out as a wife and mother to her husband and five children and to the many extended families that her love affair with her husband blessed them with over the years. These included her extended family in Philadelphia and Delaware, the Army family members and Prairie View A&M University family. Always the dutiful, gifted, strong, talented and confident partner to her husband she was a mentor to generations of Army family members that she mentored. She also became the mom away from home to countless students that she welcomed into her home as the First Lady at Prairie View A&M. She loved her family deeply. She was extraordinarily generous to her grandchildren and great grandchildren who will always remember the love and compassion she showed them and they will never forget the magnificent Christmas presents and Birthday gifts from her. Louise is survived by her husband of nearly 71 years LTG Julius W. Becton, Jr, USA (Ret), her five children: Shirley Becton Mckenzie (Tim), Karen Becton-Johnson, Joyce Becton Best (Art), Renee Becton Strickland (Frank) and Julius W. Becton III (Ingrid). She is also survived by her loving grandchildren; Rena, Robin, Kim (Julian), Chris, Stephen, Jocelyn (Randall), Amber, Michelle, Emily (Jacob), Julius Wesley IV, Samuel, by her great grandchildren Malik, Jasmine, Jurae, and Mya, as well as many nieces, nephews,and lifelong friends. She was predeceased in death by her mother Adelaide Thornton, by her father Louis Thornton and by her sisters Francis Showell, Eleanor Drew, and Edwina Thornton. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name to the Prairie View A&M College of Nursing, Nurses Alumni Scholarship. www.PVAMU.edu/giving

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Louise Thornton Becton

March 1, 1927 - January 23, 2019