Biography

Ethel Koger Beckham 1923 – 2012

Mrs. Beckham was born in Paducah, Kentucky and moved to Miami in 1923. She attended Dade County Public Schools from Kindergarten at Riverside Elementary through her graduation from Miami High in 1973. She met Walter Beckham in Junior High and they married during the war. They had three children. After serving in volunteer work for the community, Ethel Koger Beckham served on the school board for 16 years and loved every minute of it. She said that “it seemed everything she had ever learned prepared her for the job.” She took office at the time of the statewide teacher strike and then experienced court ordered desegregation. Those were turbulent times for the community.

Mrs. Beckham served as President on the Florida School Boards Association as well as the Southern Region of the National School Boards Association. She served on State Boards in various capacities and was appointed on the Board of National Career Education in Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Ethel Koger Beckham was known to say, “There is nothing to compare the feeling to when the feeling that what you do hopefully makes a difference to the next generation. What a privilege to have had the opportunity.”