Russell Wayne Dean passed away on March 15, 2021 due to a fall, broken leg, and heart failure.
Russell was born in Beaver, Utah, on Feb. 28, 1941 to Wallace Russell Dean and Elizabeth Baldwin Dean. He was the oldest of four boys: Robert Allen (deceased), (Rita Hatch) of Beaver; Gordon Ray (Catherine Johnson) of Cedar City and Gary Bruce (Gae Rasmussen) of Fillmore.
He is preceded in death by his parents and brother. He loved sports and excelled in football, basketball and track. Russell attended Utah State University in Logan and College of Southern Utah in Cedar City.
In 1960, he joined the Utah Army National Guard, 222 Field Artillery in Beaver and served for six years. His unit was sent to Puerto Rico, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
He met Kathleen Hart from Bloomington, Idaho in 1961 at USU. They were married in August 1962 in the Logan Temple and were blessed with six children: Angie (Mark Hugentobler) of Ephraim; Eric Russell (Janeen Moore) of Santaquin; Kurt James of Ephraim; Allison (Marty Evers) living in Italy; Michael Wayne (Melanie Omer) of Taylorsville and Matthew Hart (Paris Wilson) of Logan. His hobbies were water coloring, leatherwork and fishing.
Russell graduated from USU in 1965, taught school for four years and then returned to USU for a master’s degree.
In 1978, he was hired as the Director of Snow College Library and Media Services and later Dean of Library and information services. He was instrumental in bringing the first computer lab and testing service on campus and worked with a donor to create an instructional media services center.
Among his many accomplishments, he taught an instructional media class for Weber State College teacher education program at Snow. He also assisted with planning and implementing the standardization of library automation for the Utah Academic Library Consortium (UALC) and with the approval of the UALC worked directly with the legislature to secure funds to provide students at Snow College with resources on par with many research institutions.
He was a 12-year cancer survivor (Downwinder, Beaver, Utah). Russell and Kathleen have 15 grandchildren and five-plus great- grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Saturday, March 20, 2021 in the Ephraim Stake Center. Online guestbook and live streaming of the service available at www.maglebymortuary.com under Russell’s obituary. Funeral Directors: Magleby Mortuary, Richfield, Salina and Manti.
