Sheilah Beckett

At the time of her death, Beckett resided and worked in Ossining, New York. Her final works done at the age of 99 were on the computer. Becket lived to be 100 years old. Beckett got her professional start upon graduation from high school, creating advertising artwork for The Doyle Conte Co., a Portland, OR based department store. She quickly moved onto a job in Los Angeles, “illustrating a series of Gilbert & Sullivan books.” A series of events led her to New York where she obtained an artist representative and found work illustrating children's books. Shortly thereafter, Beckett joined the Charles E Cooper studio as the first female illustrator. When television became popular, there wasn’t as much illustration happening as before. This led to the loss in business of the Charles E. She had steady assignments with Necco Wafers and Whitman's Chocolates but preferred illustrating children's books and Christmas cards. One of her longest running clients was the American Artist Group greeting cards. They too lost business when the price of stamps increased.

• Name — Sheilah Beckett • Born — September 5, 1913 • Birthplace — Vancouver, British Columbia • Died — November 17, 2013 • Place of death — Ossining, New York • Field — Illustration • Works — Little Golden Books • Partner — J. Frederick Smith