One of Thomas Ramirez’s most vivid memories of Good News at Noon founder Gene Beckstein, who died Wednesday at age 93, came when the two were sitting at the front desk of the Gainesville food and homeless shelter.

Beckstein’s eyes kept wandering outside. Then a man who looked like he had been sleeping in a trash can walked up, and Beckstein jumped up and sprinted to open the door for him.

“Welcome, sir,” Beckstein said.

Ramirez said anybody else probably would have told the man to get out, but Beckstein’s response made an impression on Ramirez and led him to become a Christian.

Beckstein, affectionately referred to as “Mr. B,” founded the food and homeless shelter in 1987. The site at 979 Davis St. provides meals for dozens of men, women and children daily and beds for 20 homeless men. Supported by dozens of local churches, it also operates a food pantry distributing more than 100 boxes of food, plus offers summer school programs for children.

Funeral services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Gainesville First Baptist Church. The family will receive friends from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Friday at Memorial Park North Riverside Chapel.

Ramirez, now the shelter manager, was homeless and struggling with drugs and alcohol when he met Beckstein, who took Ramirez under his wing. He credits Beckstein for helping him not end up in prison and “probably even the grave.”

Ben Parker, board chairman and a volunteer for Good News at Noon, said Beckstein made the homeless ministry a fun place.

“He had a magnetic personality that made the difficult seem easy and gave you hope and it made you want to volunteer,” Parker said. “And he didn’t have to go build a big organization. It just sort of gathered around those simple attributes of service.”

Pat England, a board member and volunteer for Good News at Noon, said people followed Beckstein’s lead.

“It inspired us to do things for other people,” England said. “That just spread over the community.”

The Rev. Terry Walton, senior pastor at Gainesville First United Methodist Church, remembers Beckstein as a delightful guy.

“I remember meeting him the first time right after I arrived in Gainesville about 12 years ago,” Walton said. “He gave me a tour of Good News at Noon, and you could just see the delight in his life was that ministry.”

Walton remembers Beckstein as a servant who lived out Christian values in every way.

“He definitely was the hands and feet and heart of Christ to those who were going through less than desirable times in their lives,” Walton said.

Once, Beckstein told Walton that Good News at Noon was his calling.

“He was Christ-like, he really was. I would call him the Mother Teresa of Gainesville,” Walton said. “He never was one who made you feel like less of a person because you weren’t as all-in, if you will, as he was.”

James Gilmer and his wife, Jan, were neighbors to Beckstein and have known him since the mid-1970s

“The world is a lot better place because Mr. B was in it,” Jan Gilmer said.

“He had a 110 percent impact on Gainesville and Hall County,” James Gilmer said. “He’s the same today as he was when I first met him — an always down-to-earth person who cared about people and was a wonderful neighbor to us.”

The Rev. Bill Coates of First Baptist Church in Gainesville remembers Beckstein as a visionary and a man full of heart.

“He probably did more for the poor of this community than anybody I’ve ever known,” Coates said. “He could inspire people in such simple ways, and he inspired them not just by his words, but every word was backed up by his own actions in his own life. He will be greatly missed in Gainesville.”

Coates has been in Gainesville 18 years and met Beckstein shortly after arriving. A memory of Beckstein that stands out to him was during a large gathering in the First Baptist Church banquet hall in support of Good News at Noon.

“He got up from his wheelchair and just spoke a few words, but he probably raised more money for what he’s doing with those few words that he spoke than anything else that went on there,” Coates said. “I don’t remember what he said, I just remember how I felt when he said it.”

Coates thought the work Beckstein did with Good News at Noon was spectacular.

“What impressed me so much about him was not just what he did, but his very humble spirit with which he did it all,” Coates said.

Parker said Beckstein didn’t get bogged down by the process behind helping people.

“He didn’t ever worry about the mechanics of how to get something done. Most people would stop and have a boardroom meeting,” Parker said. “He would just love people. The rest would figure itself out.”

James Gilmer worked for the Department of Labor as a disabled veteran outreach specialist, which often led him to working with Beckstein and his Good News at Noon program.

“He was a good person right up til the end,” James Gilmer said.

Beckstein stepped down as Good News director last fall in failing health, handing the mission to Gainesville couple Alejandro and Beth Oropeza.

Beckstein grew up in a troubled home in New York City. After serving as a nurse in the Marine Corps, he became caught up in criminal activity while living in Chicago and experienced poverty firsthand.

“I wanted to start a feeding program because I was homeless myself,” Beckstein said in a previous Times story.

After a high school baseball coach tracked him down and convinced him to use the GI Bill to fund his education, Beckstein attended New York University, earned two master’s degrees and spent the next 37 years teaching in public school administration.

He said Billy Graham’s evangelism moved him to take action to help others through Christian ministry, and he took troubled children under his wing throughout his career teaching in Michigan and Georgia public schools, including stints at E.E. Butler and Gainesville high schools.

When he retired from teaching, he and his late wife, Margie, began serving meals to the needy out of their home in 1987. He later reached out to a larger group of the homeless of Gainesville when he began to serve lunch at Melrose Apartments on Davis Street in January 1990.

“His wife, Margie, cooked the meatloaf ... and he said, ‘anybody hungry come eat,’” author Gloria Stargel said in a previous Times story. “So they started coming and they’ve been coming ever since. And he still feeds them.”

“We fed 12 guys that day, and the next day 20 guys came in,” Beckstein said in the article.

Now hundreds are served each week, including annual holiday feasts.

Beckstein would require the hungry and homeless who visit Good News to memorize a Bible verse and complete an assignment to receive food.

“Just to give the food away, it’s not right,” Beckstein said. “The apostle Paul says if you don’t work, you don’t eat. If they do the homework, they eat supper here and get a box of food.”

Parker said the board has plans for Good News at Noon to continue to build on Beckstein’s work and live out his values.

Ramirez said Beckstein leaves a legacy of living out his faith.

“Talking is cheap, but he really walked the talk,” Ramirez said. “He loved everybody equal: black, red and white, Hispanic, Vietnamese.”

Beckstein and his wife raised eight children and gave temporary homes to dozens more throughout his teaching career.

“I see people changing their lives right here,” Beckstein said in a 2014 story. “This is not church, but we lift Jesus up all the time.”

Beckstein is survived by the couple's six children, 22 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.