Crystal Wise
The all-encompassing nature of the job of City Council member might best be illustrated by Elizabeth Beck’s trip in the not-too-distant past to Big Bend Country, that portion of Texas’ magnificent Trans-Pecos region.
She had just gotten off the trail from a hike and taken a seat at the lodge bar, awaiting her workout reward of a burger and beer. One must replenish those lost carbs after all. Her hiking raiment that day happened to include a “Fort Worth” cap with the city’s longhorn-who-identifies-as-Molly-the-cow logo just below the script.
“Not long after, this man walks in with a ‘Fort Worth’ T-shirt,” she says. “And I said, ‘Hey, I like your T-shirt,’ and he looked my hat, and he goes, ‘Oh, my God. I love that hat! Are you from Fort Worth?’ I said, ‘I sure am. What neighborhood do you live in?’ And he goes, ‘Well, it’s this neighborhood off Eighth Avenue.’ I said, ‘You mean Fairmount.’ He goes, ‘Yeah.’
“I said, ‘Hi, I’m Elizabeth Beck. I’m your city councilwoman.’”
That happened three other times with constituents from District 9 visiting Big Bend during the New Year’s portion of the holiday. On that same trip.
Crystal Wise
Fort Worth, it’s a small world after all.
The City Council and hiking are two of her chief concerns these days, in addition to two teenage daughters, of course. A three-legged dog, Trip, and his buddy, a cat named Roe, who is also missing a limb, are also members of the household.
“I love it,” she says of her job representing District 9, but Beck, 41, could have easily been talking about her treks across some remote trail. Those walks she calls her “spiritual reprieve.”
Beck is at the start of her second two-year term on the council after winning reelection in May. She is also an attorney at Braziel Law Firm, where she practices labor and employment law.
Believe it or not, law was her third career. After graduating from Southwest High School, she joined the U.S. Army Reserves. She spent 8 1/2 years in the 223rd Maintenance Company based in Grand Prairie. In 2005, she deployed as a sergeant to Iraq.
Beck has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UT Arlington, as well as a master’s in city and regional planning. Before going to law school at Texas A&M-Fort Worth, she was a transportation planner at the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
She never had any ambition to run for elective public office.
But she ran unsuccessfully for the District 97 seat in the state House of Representatives in 2020. The experience, though, opened her eyes to so many issues at the city level.
“I want to be useful to my city, and I think this is my best and highest use right now,” she says.
The job can be difficult, she reminds. “It is not for the faint of heart. It really takes a toll on your physical health, your mental health, your financial health, and your interpersonal relationships.”
That’s why hiking has become such an important part of her life. It’s a five-mile journey of rejuvenation she takes every Sunday.
She rings in the New Year, every year since in 2017, in Big Bend. She discovered this vast and remote region of wonder, this place of isolation and tranquility in 2016.
“It’s part of my reset for the beginning of the year, but I also really enjoy sharing that place with people because that is my place in the world.”
She loves the solitude, unless, of course, she bumps into constituents. She loves that, too.
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1. My best attempt at using a timer for a selfie in the Santa Fe National Forest.
2. With my two daughters on South Padre Island.
3. A visit to the West Wing of the White House.
4. The Prada in Marfa? Well, here’s the Target in Marathon.
5. The joy of discovering the beauty of Banff, the jewel of Alberta.
6. Enjoying the sunset in Big Bend with fellow hiker Keitha Spears.
7. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is renowned for wearing leather jackets. So, the governor got a kick out of my attire in Dallas.
Top 5 hikes
- Lost Mine Trail - Big Bend National Park
- Emory Peak Trail - Big Bend National Park
- Fossil Ridge + Limestone Ridge Trails - Cleburne State Park
- Plain of Six Glaciers Trail - Banff, Alberta, Canada
- Limestone Ledge + Black-Capped Vireo Trails - Dinosaur Valley State Park
