William Fred Dean
Sept. 30, 1954-July 28, 2016
East Palo Alto, California
William (Bill) Fred Dean was born to Annie Shelly Knight and Fred Harold Dean on September 30, 1954, in Oakland California, where he grew up. He passed July 28, 2016, at Stanford University Hospital in Stanford, California.
Bill attended McClymonds High School in Oakland, graduating in 1972, where he was an excellent student and ran Varsity Track. He earned an academic scholarship to the University of California Berkeley where he attended for three years until 1975, leaving to join the Air Force serving the majority of his time at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. He was honorably discharged in May 1978 from active duty and finished his service in the reserves in Hayward and Moffett Air Force Bases, both in California. He resumed his education at California State University at Hayward (now California State University East Bay) and graduated in June 1980 with a Bachelors Degree in Political Science with a minor in Business. He completed one year of his MBA while there and also worked for the Girl Scouts, beginning his employment serving others. In early 1982 he began a long career at San Mateo County where he continued to be employed at the time of his death. He worked in several programs. He started with Aid to Families With Dependent Children, was promoted to Foster Care Program Supervisor for San Mateo County and was serving as a Training and Learning Specialist in the Human Services Department.
Bill met his wife, Elizabeth Brown-Dean at San Mateo County as she was the Vice president of the Union and signed him up. They were married on February 19, 1983, and 10 years later adopted their son, Christian William Lindsey Dean. Bill said the most important and rewarding role he had in life was being Christian's father.
Bill served as a department representative on several AFSCME Union negotiating teams, representing employees in his department. He represented San Mateo County at California State Foster Care meetings. He was also involved with the county's emergency shelter program. He loved learning, researching and developing training programs as well as training new employees and colleagues. He also enjoyed the camaraderie of his colleagues, exchanging ideas with them and with his friends as well as discussing sports, history and new ideas.
He served the communities of Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. In Palo Alto, he served on the (PACCC) Palo Alto Community Childcare Board of Directors. In addition, he coached Y-Ball, YMCA Basketball, Palo Alto Little League and then served for three years as the vice-president of Ravenswood Little League and coached a team while Christian played in the majors in East Palo Alto.
Bill became a member of the Palo Alto Unitarian Universalist Church in 1990 where he co-taught preschool Sunday School for three years with his wife and two other parents. In 2005 he transferred his membership to Abundant Life Christian Fellowship in Mountain View.
Bill's major interests were learning through reading, exploring and conversations. He was a peaceful man meditating daily, running five miles a day and for years was a regular at the Page Mill YMCA, until its closure. He then spent most of his time at the East Palo Alto YMCA. He was one of the Gold Card founding members of the East Palo Alto YMCA, and on Sundays he was usually found at the Ross Road Y.
The person he was most grateful to was Sutton Lindsey for giving him and his wife, through an open adoption, their son, Christian. In addition, Bill was able to help bring Christian full circle to meet his natural father, Benjamin Marshall, in December 2015. He was most proud of Christian, how hard he worked and his achievements educationally and in his professional soccer career. He was touched by Christian’s commitment to the British Columbia Children’s Hospital program.
His greatest interests were how to develop one's mind, learning new things, in-depth conversations and improving himself through fitness.
He will be missed for his peaceful and steadfast devotion, wonderful and crazy sense of humor, playfulness and wonder for life.
Bill was predeceased by his father, Fred Harold Dean, his mother Annie Shelly Knight, his brothers Lad Ford, John Wallace Ford, Willie Abraham Ford, David Lee Ford, Jerome Norman Ford, and his sisters, Sheila Dean and Joyce Ford, father-in-law, Leroy Harvey Brown, mother-in-law, Eleanor Martha Brown, brother-in-laws, Robert Lee Brown and Daniel Paul Brown.
He leaves behind his wife, Elizabeth Marie Brown-Dean of East Palo Alto, his son, Christian William Lindsey Dean of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, his brother, Thomas Ford (Patricia) of Orangeville, California, his sisters Doris Payne and Shirley Dean both of Oakland, California, and his sister Annie M. Ford of San Jose, California. In addition his sister-in-law, Barbara Jeanne and her husband Ramnick Velji of Camarillo, California, and his sister-in-law, Dr. Tina Goodman-Brown of Thousand Oaks, California, and many nieces, nephews, grand nieces and nephews, and many cousins!
In addition, please remember to sing, smile, laugh, play with your dog and cat, spend lots of time with your child, love your spouse and children and you will honor Bill!!! Life is precious, time is valuable, share it and protect it!
Tags: veteran, public service
