But side by side with this life of privilege was a very different experience for Beck. The family also had a saltwater farm down the road in Tiverton, which was run strictly by Beck's mother. I frequented the knee of many commercial fishermen and the blacks in our homewho essentially raised me. I presume I became an ethnologist or folklorist at six.
Teaching is the only rival of that first love.
Yet, when in Newport, he would slip easily into the family society and dine at the yacht club with the likes of the Morgans and Vanderbilts. After graduation and a stint in the Navy, Beck taught at Penn until 1950, then at Temple until 1955. While his connections at Penn were strong, Beck felt the need for a change. He wanted to teach smaller classes and to collect data from his own boat. Also on the personal side, I wanted to live in the country again, to farm, build my own house and furniture shop, and to be in a place where I could hunt.