On Father’s Day, Becky’s Drive-In in Walnutport will be selling copies of a book full of nearly 700 photographs taken of the area by William Beck, founder of the drive-in that opened in 1946.

“He took so much time and effort to take all of these photographs,” said Cindy Deppe, one of Beck’s daughters. “It doesn’t make sense to let them sit in the attic.”

The book costs $49.99, and the profits will be donated to the Lehigh Township Historical Society. A copy of the book also will be placed in the historical society.

Beck was born in 1909 and took photos and 16 mm film for most of his life. He started in 1928 and continued into the 1980s. He passed away in 1987.

The family knew of the boxes and boxes of photographs and film sitting in their parents’ house, so in November 2015, work began on the book.

Deppe took the photographs to Dan’s Camera in Allentown and had them scanned into a computer. The pictures filled five CDs with 2,000 pictures each. There are more pictures in boxes, but that’s another day.

With CDs in hand, Deppe and her family waded through the pictures to select several for the book. With the help of local historians and others from the community, Deppe was able to identify people and places in the photos she didn’t recognize. And her friend Pat DeLong, of Palmerton, volunteered to do the layout of the book.

“It’s the history of the area,” DeLong said. “For (Deppe), it was a dream come true, a labor of love, a way to honor her father. The pictures are just tremendous.”

After two winter’s worth of work, the book was nearly complete.

“I was determined to get it done this past winter,” she said.

The book release is set for release on Father’s Day, in honor of her father.

“I think he would be proud of it,” she said.

It will be available to purchase at the new refreshment stand from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The 118-page book was published by an online company.

It is 8.5 by11 inches, bound with full-color inside and out.

The photographs are of the Lehigh Gap, Walnutport Canal, early days in Whitehall, Northampton Sanitary Dairy, Dieter’s Foundry in Cherryville, Berlinsville slate quarries, Dorney Park, Allentown Fair, New Jersey Zinc Co., trains, snow scenes, and one-room schoolhouses and their teachers.

Beck also took pictures professionally. He photographed weddings and took pictures of crashes for the Lehigh Township Police, as well as pictures for court cases for attorney Martin Phillips in Palmerton.

Beck also loved film. He took 16 mm movies of farming in New Tripoli, student life in school houses, sleigh rides and area parks.

“He always had a camera or movie camera with him. Whenever there was a special function going on, he always took photos of the event,” Deppe said. “The best work he did was with his large format press camera in the 1950s and 1960s. The negatives are 4x5 in size.”

Deppe said her father became interested in photography and movies after attending the matinee at an indoor theater in Slatington. He went on to receive a diploma from the New York Institute of Photography in 1928, via a correspondence course through the mail.

As a young man, he suffered an eye injury while working at the Keystone Lamp Factory. It didn’t stop him from pursuing photography though. With money he received from the incident, he bought a movie projector, Deppe said. In time, he bought his first movie camera.

“Our father showed movies to the neighborhood kids on his parents’ living room wall, using a bed sheet for a screen. After that, he began to show movies outside of a restaurant and gas station called “Uncle Charlie’s” in North Berlinsville in 1936,” Deppe said. “There wasn’t a charge for the movies, only for the refreshments.”

Beck went on to run the Midway Theatre in Jim Thorpe, and eventually built Becky’s Drive-in.

Deppe said her father’s favorite photographs were of the Lehigh Gap, trains, snow scenes and people.

“Just their everyday life,” she said. “Years ago, we would submit photos to the Blue Mountain Town & Country Gazette, and the public enjoyed seeing them. That is what gave us the idea to make a book.”