Donna J. Dean

Donna Dean Memorial services: 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, Henderson-Barker Funeral Home, 201 Pedersen St., West Branch. Donna J. Dean, 80, West Branch, died Saturday, Sept. 16, 2006, at Crestview Care and Rehab Center, West Branch, after a brief illness. The Rev. Marty Jacobson will officiate. Family burial of the cremains will be at West Branch Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Enlow Public Library Children's Section. Mrs. Dean was born Nov. 20, 1925, in Des Moines, the daughter of Fritz and Clara Jensen Clemmensen. She married Edward Dean on June 21, 1953, in Robinson, Ill. She was a graduate of Robinson (Illinois) High School and later Southern Illinois University where she received a bachelor of arts degree in education. She taught school in West Branch for four years and later operated Little Brick Preschool from her home for several years as well as worked at Enlow Public Library, West Branch, for 19 years where she was the founder of Story Hour and after her retirement served on the library board. She was a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, West Branch. She was an active member and volunteer of the Cedar County Republican Party, charter member of...[more]

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men's Federated Club, lifetime member of the American Legion Auxiliary, volunteered many hours at the Reader Helper program in the school system, was honored by the West Branch Chamber of Commerce as "Person of the Year", received the Silver Pin for 25 years of service in Girl Scouting and served as a docent with the Hoover Library. She had a cat named Scarlett. Survivors include a son, Tom Dean and wife Susan of West Branch; three daughters, Michele Sinclair and husband Tom of McGregor, Lori Kelly and husband Mike of Cedar Rapids and Teresa Esbeck and husband William of Tipton; a brother, Richard Clemmensen of Oak Brook, Ill.; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; a brother, Fritz; and a grandson, Jesse.