Rhona Beck
The Sporting Post is sad to convey that Rhona Barnett Beck passed away peacefully in the early hours of Wednesday, 9 September 2015.
Mainly known to the racing community as the wife and graceful counterfoil of the larger than life coalmining magnate Graham Beck, the couple wed in 1959 and had been married for half a century when Graham succumbed to cancer on 27 July 2010.
Rhona was born to Jewish parents Henry John Barnett and Lea Frieda in Johannesburg on 10 July 1937. Her elder sister was the novelist Shirley Eskapa (who passed away in London in August 2011).
Racing
Through an association with the late Laurie and Jean Jaffee, the Becks were introduced to horse racing and their first purchase was a horse called Foreign Prince at the 1973 National Yearling Sales. Their famous brown and white silks have been a prominent feature on South African race tracks ever since and have been carried by some of the greatest thoroughbreds ever to grace the South African turf.
Breeding
The Becks’ first foray into breeding was when they took over Regent Stud in Mooi River in the late 1970’s. They later acquired Godfrey Gird’s Maine Chance Farms from Godfrey Gird, then Noreen Stud from Granville and Myra Gorton and finally, John Stubbs’ Highlands Stud. In 1989, they also purchased the magnificent Gainesway Stud in Kentucky from John Gaines, adding to it the neighbouring Greentree Stud, owned by Jock Whitney and his sister Joan Payson, and the CV Whitney farm; creating a consolidated 1500 acre haven. An expert gardener and ardent environmentalist, Rhona was instrumental in the development and expansion of the magnificent Gainesway estate gardens, which now boast so many oak trees that the American Public Garden Association granted it the status of arboretum – a title not shared by any other stud farm in the world.
Other interests
Rhona left South Africa for political reasons in 1971 and moved to London. Rhona and her late husband became pioneers in the South African wine industry, establishing Graham Beck Wines, an environmentally friendly wine company. In 1994 Nelson Mandela enjoyed Graham Beck Brut for his inauguration. Barack Obama drank Graham Beck Brut to celebrate his nomination.
In 2009, the Becks opened the Graham and Rhona Beck Skills Centre near Madeba in Robertson. Part of an extensive social development programme, the centre aims to facilitate skills development for the long-term upliftment of the farming community in the Breede River Valley.
A devoted reader, painter, sculptor and art lover, Rhona followed in the footsteps of her sister Shirley and became a writer. Rhona began writing late in life, publishing her first novel, The Glass Sky (Elliott and Thompson, 2006) aged 69, followed by her second title, The Gratitude Cradle, in June 2015.
Art lover, celebrated author, devoted wife, much loved mother and grandmother, Rhona Beck is survived by her son Antony, his wife Angela and their five children and will be missed by all who knew her.
Please read John Freeman’s moving tribute here.
Our condolences to the Beck family and the teams at Highlands and Gainesway Farms.
The Beck family
