Ray Allan Dean

Ray Allan Dean, 92, of Murphysboro, Illinois, passed from this earth to his heavenly home at 3:55 p.m. Monday, January 21, 2013, at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, with his family in a prayer circle around his body. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, January 25, 2013, at Pettett Funeral Home with Rev. Charles Allen officiating and burial at Alto Pass Cemetery with military services conducted by the American Legion Post # 127, V.F.W. Posts # 7190 and 2605, and the Jackson County D.A.V. Chapter # 69. Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday until 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home. The family would prefer memorials to Elm Street Baptist Church in Murphysboro, the Carmi Baptist Children's Home in Carmi, IL, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, or American Lung Association. Ray was born on June 28, 1920, in Union County, Illinois, and was the first child of Delbert and Nellie Catherine (Mendenhall) Dean. He attended Alto Pass High School for one year and then graduated from Vergennes High School. Ray served 3 1/2 years with the Army Engineers from the airfields of England to the Battle of the Bulge. He was honorably discharged in 1945. He came back to southern Illinois, where he met and married Juanita Christine Hubbard on June 29, 1951, in Osceola, Arkansas. Ray worked thirty years at the Granite City Steel Mill as a millwright. Mr. Dean was a member of the Calvary Baptist Church in Granite City, but after his retirement, he attended Elm Street Baptist Church in Murphysboro. Ray and Juanita bought a farm near Murphysboro in 1957. After working at Granite City, he retired from the mill to the farm at Murphysboro, where he got to do what he had always wanted to do. He and Juanita farmed for 24 yars until he lost his sight due to strokes of the optic nerves in December of 2001. They enjoyed building their home. Ray cut trees from his farm and sawed them into lumber to build the machine shed, and then build all the other buildings with lumber from the farm. They were able to enjoy living in their own home together during the eleven and a half years that Ray was totally blind. This was God's gift to them. They were the parents of three children Vicki Rae (Royce) Morgan of Troy, Illinois, Elizabeth Ann (Dave) Boucher of Murphysboro, and John Allan Dean, who died when he was 7 months old. Ray and Juanita have five grandchildren Chris (Christy) Patterson of O'Fallon, MO, Shannon (Mike) Tippy) of Land of Lakes, FL, Gary Trimble of Murphysboro, Aubrey (Kevin) Harris of Granite City, and David Ray (Debbie) Trimble of Murphysboro; seven great grandchildren Tristin Allan Trimble, Christian Kowalewski, Chloe Patterson, Aidan Harris, Riley Harris, Emma Tippy, and Laura Elizabeth Trimble; one brother Harold (Phyllis) Dean of Davidson, Mich. one sister Ila May Galloway of Kankakee, one brother in law James (Alma) Hubbard of Carbondale; nieces and nephews Patty Simmons, Linda Crites, Sharon Fred, Keith Galloway and Jay Galloway, all of Bourbonnais, IL, Leonard Ray Dean and Connie Piper, both of Belleville, Bruce Allan Dean of Ava, Alma Dierks and Brenda Keller of Ava, Billy and Judy Dean of Michigan, Anita Aldridge and Randy Hubbard of Carbondale. Those who went before Ray were his son John Allan Dean, his parents, his two brothers William and Curtis Dean, 2 sister in laws Mae and Mary Dean, and two nephews Michael Hubbard and Jeffrey Ray Galloway. Ray was a role model for so many people including his family. He was an inspiration for those who watched him endure the difficult hardships during the last eleven and a half years. Ray, we love you and we miss you!

Ray Allan Dean

June 28, 1920 - January 21, 2013