HOUSTON – Family and friends remembered a 90-year-old veteran Sunday as the search continues for his killer.
Police say a carjacker shot and killed Nelson Beckett at the Lonestar Senior Living Apartments Saturday afternoon.
The man who shot him has not been identified at this time.
Beckett’s daughter says her father was the kindest and funniest man you’d ever meet.
The apartment complex where he was killed is also where he lived for several years and also where he cared for so many people.
Sunday service at Southwest Central Church of Christ started somberly.
In the congregation was Beckett’s friend of 47 years, Steve Sandifer. He spoke to KPRC 2 Reporter Corley Peel on the phone.
“I told his daughter, I said, you know, had she called me that morning and said dad didn’t wake up this morning, I would have said, good. He’s lived his 90 years. He’s been a champion of faith and everything else. He’s lived a great life. But to hear that he had been murdered. That just, that was just beyond me,” Sandifer said.
The deadly carjacking happened right outside Beckett’s apartment building. His car was found 10 minutes away at a different apartment complex.
“It’s total shock. I’d seen him on Wednesday. He was 90, but he was very mobile,” Sandifer said.
Sandifer says the Navy veteran was a natural caretaker, driving neighbors to doctor appointments, picking people up from halfway houses to take them to church. He also loved his wife of 55 years who passed away in 2010.
“Do you have a favorite memory with Nelson? Something that sticks out to you over the past 47 years that y’all have had together?” asked Corley.
“Laughing. Eating and laughing,” Sandifer responded. “Nelson was a comedian of sorts. He always had a funny story. And so when he started talking about, well, there was this man, you knew it was a a story, not a true thing. And you’d get around to the point eventually. But he was a very loving man, a very caring man. He was just a good, faithful Christian man. He loved Jesus. He loved his church.”
Sandifer shared one of Beckett’s most memorable moments of his time serving in the Navy.
“He was in the Navy when they were doing the atomic bomb tests that went on. He was on a ship when the Bikini Atoll bomb was detonated. He talked about all the guys getting on the deck of the ship, and they told them to turn their back to the, the island. Evidently, they were human guinea pigs to see what was going to happen. He remembered the light was very, very bright. And it was like, some of the x-rays you’d see in the cartoons where, the light was just immense,” said Sandifer.
Beckett was a salesman by trade.
“Cars were his big deal. You name the car you want, and he’d find it for you. And, new. Never used,” said Sandifer.
Beckett’s daughter, Tami, sent this statement to KPRC 2 about her father:
“He was the kindest, funniest man you’d ever meet. He loved meeting people and greeted them all with jokes and his famous business card, which said “my card.” He loved to make someone laugh and brighten their day. To him, everyone had value. He spent his days driving people places who did not have a car. Driving them to doctors’ appointments, FEMA, rehab, stores, etc., wherever they needed to go. He even would drive some friends from a halfway house to panhandle and take them to church on Sundays. He even baptized several of them. He would do anything for anyone. He told me (his daughter) all the time how lucky we are to have such a big, wonderful, loving, Christian family. He loved big and loved his family so much!”
Corley also spoke with Beckett’s son, Tim Beckett. He said his father was raised and married his wife in Oklahoma City, then moved to Houston in the early 1960′s with their two children. Beckett has five grandchildren, six great grandchildren with one on the way.
“He was always interested in helping those less fortunate than himself. Had been very active in his church for decades,” said Beckett.
The shooter remains on the run, but Sandifer is confident whoever killed his one-of-a-kind friend will be caught.
Police have not released a detailed description of the young man accused of killing Beckett., but he is believed to be armed and dangerous.
Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in this case.
If you know anything about this murder, you are asked to contact Houston Police.
KPRC 2 Reporter Corley Peel will have more on this story tonight at 10.