Bill Dean Obituary

I have a copy of the newspaper with Uncle Bill's obituary, but it is in bad shape. I'll type it in here for posterity.

Bill Dean Loses in Gallant Battle With Infantile Paralysis - Pecos Enterprise, Pecos, Texas, Friday, August 25, 1933
Dies Near Angelo in Ambulance

Last Dramatic Dash For Life Proves Unavailing

"Those whom the Gods Love die young."

William Walters Dean, known to his thousands of friends as Bill Dean, died near San Angelo Tuesday night of the dread Infantile paralysis after a supreme fight for his life.

He passed on when stricken muscles and paralyzed organs at last sapped the last of his strength and after he had been kept alive for more than 24 hours by artificial respiration.

His passing came as he was enroute to Houston to seek relief in an artificial respirator, a so-called 'iron lung' that by means of a vacuum administers the respiration which his friends were applying to him with their hands. His deathg came while the trait most characteristic of him - a gallant fight against overwhelming odds - was being displayed in its finest form.

Stricken Suddenly

It is hard to write of Bill Dean's death as we would of another person. It all has come so suddenly - he was sticken down so ruthlessly in the prime of life - they just yet all of us are a little dazed and bewildered.

He was such a cheerful, such a hard working, such a game chap. His sportsmanship - it was part of his nature - endured until the very last. As he breathed his last, fully conscious that the end was at hand, he summoned the gallant comrades who had so faithfully endeavored to keep aflame the tiny spark of life that lingered in his stricken body. He looked up at them and summoning all his strength he smiled . . . and winked at them cheerfully. Then he passed on.

Those with him were grown men but as they saw such a game and gallant spirit expire not a dry eye remained.

So it has been with our town, Bill Dean's sudden illness, the lightning-like rapidity with which the malady descended, his indomitable courage all have made his death the occasion for city-wide mourning.

Whole Town Mourns

Seldom is a community so affected. During the hours when his life trembled in the balance his welfare was the sole topic of conversation. Friends by the score volunteered to help in any possible way. Downtown people waited up late for news of his progress.

Stores closed during the hours of the funeral.

The last dramatic effort to save him typifies the fight that was put up. Artificial respiration here was hearing him away Tuesday. It was evident that here he could last but a few hours longer. The father, W. W. Sr., just as game, just as fine a sportsman as the son, and the mother, Mrs. Mary Dean, beloved by everyone in Pecos, Dorothy Finley Dean, the courageous wife , and all the others determined to do all in their power, to leave no possibility unexploited.

Aware that the odds were stacked against them, they frantically telephoned and telegraphed over all of the Southwest in an effort to locate the respirator which they had hopes would keep him alive long enough for serum to have a partial effect.

Finally, after hours of anxious inquiry they located one of the new are rare 'iron lungs' at a private hospital in Houston. Houston attendants responded quickly, had all ready for him.

Unique Caravan

Then was organized that unique caravan. A Pecos Furniture Co. ambulance was chartered. Drivers volunteered. Six of Bill's close friends volunteered to accompany him and administer the artificial respiration.

Wallace Anderson drove the ambulance. Ralph Williams drove the car which carried the grief-stricken wife, Dorothy, Mr. and Mrs. Dean, and the faithful nurse, Miss Lovey Neal.

A. H. Sams drive the car carrying the men who alternated at duty in the ambulance. The men who went on the trip - they deserve the ecomiums of heroes - were George Morrison, Les Bevill, Hill Hudson, Jack May and Harvey Beauchamp. Others who volunteered were Earl Bell, Paul Morrison, Dave Wood Bozeman, F. P. Stubblefield and others.

At a rate of speed averaging over 60 miles per hour they sped toward their far-away destination. Tense and nervous they were but each one did his part in this battle for a human life.

Well, all know the rest of the story. Try as humans will, at best they are powerless in the face of the infinite. Bill breathed his last near San Angelo as his party was endeavoring to reach an emergency hospital.

Morticials at San Angelo took this body in charge, prepared it for burial and it came back to Pecos in the ambulance.

Funeral at Cemetery

Funeral services were held Thursday morning at the cemetery, Rev. Hall Pierce of Carlsbad, Episcopal rector of the Church, of which Bill was a communicant and a long time friends of the family, preached the funeral oration. The largest crowd ever to attend a Pecos funeral, at least in the recent history of the town, paid their respects to one of the best loved sons of Pecos.

The floral offering was of stupendous magnitude. The Pecos Flower Shop worked four people all night Wednesday night and had flowers coming from outside on every train. We repeat, seldom has a community taken a tragedy to heart as has this one.

Near noon, Thursday, just five days from the time Bill was alive and well, all that was mortal of him was laid away in Fiarview cemetery.

Surviving are the widow, Dorothy; the children, Mary Katherine and W. W. Dean III, Capt. and Mrs. W. W. Dean the parents; Bob Dean of Dallas, the brother; Mrs. Katherine Broughton and Mrs. Dave Sudderth, the sisters; and the many, many friends to whom this loss comes as distinctly as as bitterly as a personal one.

Brief Biography

We here present a brief biographical sketch of Bill Dean. His death occurred at the age of 26. He was a lifetime resident of the Pecos Valley, being born at Lakewood, N.M. near Artesia. When a few months old, he accompanied his parents to Carlsbad, where the family lived (except for the War period) until their removal to Pecos in 1919.

He began school at Carlsbad, and attended school in other parts of New Mexico as well during the war when his father was being given different military assignments.

He attended high school in Pecos, finishing in 1925. During his term in school he played quarterback on the football team. Small of stature and light of weight he nevertheless fought so hard and so clean and knew so much of the game that he became a star.

Prominent in Athletics

During high school he developed his natural talent at tennis, winning several district titles and on one occasion nearly winning the state championship. His doubles partners, Cap Weyer and Gordon Stine, both were on hand for the funeral. Gordon driving in from Wichita Falls to be here.

After his high school career, he attended A. and M. College for a year. There he was a member of the freshman football squad, ranking man of the freshman tennis team and also of member of the freshman basefall eam.

He returned to Pecos to enter business, while working a while as a cotton classer in El Paso. He came back to Pecos in 1928 to become associated with his father in the Dean and Dean Insurance Agency and the Pecos Abstract Co. He eventually became manager and a stockholder in the Pecos Abstract Co.,

He was married to Dorothy Finley on August 28, 1928 and to them have been born Mary Katherine Dean in January 1930 and W. W. Dean III in May 1932.

During the past few years he has earned the title of one of Pecos' hardest working and most promising young business men. No idler was Bill Dean. You never saw him standing about the corners. He tried to fill every day to overflowing with usefulness. When not at town, he loved to be with the wife and the children. He was a model in private life.

During the past few years he had developed into one of the finest golf players in the local country club. In the recent tournament he fought his way to the finals and made the "gamest" exhibition of them all. He recently likewise won the President's Cup in a close match at the Country Club. He has likewise recently participated with the Pecos tennis team in several tournaments.

In his passing, all have lost a friend; his relatives have lost a loved one whose absence they hardly can bear; and in this hour of grief and sorrow the heart of every resident of Pecos beats in sympathy with those closest to him. Only God, in His Infinite Wisdom, can give the comfort which can ease the bitterness of the grief.

Bill Nelson of the East Texas Refining Company of Dallas phones all morning long Tuesday and found the respirator at Houston to which Bill was being taken

At 11 a.m. Monday serum was ordered from Fort Worth and Bob Dean, of Dallas, Bill's brother, was telephoned of Bill's serious condition. Bob took a fast car and raced to Fort Worth to pick up the serum and deliver it al Bill's door in eight hours, several hours earlier than it could have reached on the train.

Dr. Camp had everything ready and promptly administered the first treatment in hope of staying the ravages of the malady.

Active pallbearers were: George Mrrison, Gordon Stine, Charles Firzgerald Jr., David Wood Bozeman, Jr., Morris W. Collie, Jr., Charles Weyer.

Honorary pallbears were L. W. Anderson, Jr., Paul Morrison, William L. Kerr, Jack May, Harvey Beachamp, Hill Hudson, Lester Bevill, A. H. Sams, Jr., J. P. Stubblefield, Earl Bell, Lee Bilberry, Bill Collie, Ralph Williams, Roy I. Biggs, Keigh Camp, Hilliard Camp, Gilbert Murray, Jack Camp, Louis Roberson, Milford S. Howard, D. W. Bozeman, Sr., L. W. Anderson, Sr., Harry Hinkle, Albert Sisk, Red Bell.