Lynn Blackquell Dean, 98, passed away on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at St. Anthony’s Garden near Mandeville, Louisiana. His beloved wife, Jacqueline Miles Dean, was at his side. He is survived by a son, Douglas Dean (Susan); daughter, Cherry Dean “Carambat”; 10 grandchildren: Donna Dean Roubal; Luke Dean (Lian); Cy Dean; Troy Dean (Shannon); Alicia Dean Nettles (Shawn); Braithe Landry Nash (Joe); Dr. Miles Landry (Tara); Margot Carambat Harvey (Jamie); Brandeis Perez; Kenneth Perez; 2 honorary grandsons: Shawn Nettles, Sr. (Alicia); Gregory Rome (Camille) and 27 great-grandchildren.
His children Gary Dean, Nettie Lois Dean and Lenda Dean Landry Perez predeceased him.
Dean with his older fraternal twin, Orin Franklin Dean, Jr. was given life by Lucy Belle Blackquell on December 22, 1923 at Big Lake near Manila, Mississippi County, in eastern most Arkansas. All of his siblings predeceased him including his twin brother, Orin and his three sisters Fay Orianna Dean, Billy Joe Dean Johnson Barton, and Jimmie Dean Dannemann. He was the son of Orin Franklin Dean, Sr. and Nettie Lynn Dean.
Orin and Nettie moved the family to Shawnee, Oklahoma when Dean was just a child. The Dean twins skipped a grade in a one room school house as there were no readers for that grade and they were already able to read at the next level. His father successfully farmed until he was 10, near Shawnee, a profession that was hard work and difficult according to Dean. At that time a mishap at an oil well upriver on the American River released salt into the water being used for irrigation. The crops and soils were ruined. This was during the Great Depression. The family moved to the city of Plaquemine in Louisiana near Dean’s uncle who owned Red River Barge Line. In his teen years, Dean worked on the docks of New Orleans and the barge line boats along the Intracoastal Waterway. His father taught him to be a mechanic and he learned how to be a marine diesel engineer.
The family moved to New Orleans West End where the twins graduated from the all boys public
school, Warren Easton High School, in 1940 at the age of 16.
He went to Bermuda with a United States government job, working on a dredge boat that was creating the fill for an airstrip/airport there. His first job was washing dishes. He sent all his checks home to his parents; cut other men’s hair for cash; and recycled other men’s clothes when they left them to return home. He had enough savings when he returned home, to buy his first piece of property, next to his parents in St. Bernard Parish, the place of his heart, that he always considered home even after Hurricane Katrina altered his life forever.
Turning 18, during World War II, Dean joined the Army Transport Corp, becoming a U.S. Merchant Marine Veteran having served aboard oceangoing merchant ships. He was honorably discharged from the United States Coast Guard as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) on August 15, 1945.
He met the love of his life, “Jackie”, in thanks to a Arkansas next door neighbor in St. Bernard in the fall of 1946. She was an Arkansas girl studying Nursing, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hot Springs thanks to “Uncle Sam’s” Army Nurse Corp program. She rode the train down to New Orleans with two other student nurses to live, study, and work in the pediatric wards of NOLA’s Charity Hospital for 4 months. She went back to St. Joseph’s with a ring on her finger but, Dean still had to travel to Glenwood to convince her father that he was a worthy suitor. He told anyone who would listen the best decision of his life was to marry Jackie. They were married at her parents home after she graduated from nursing school. An only granddaughter, her Grandpa Bridges, a pastor, performed the ceremony. They would have been married 75 years in September.
He worked for Snap On Tools until 1949 when he and his twin started Universal Repair Service in Violet, Louisiana. A welding job that Lynn hired on for was delayed due to rough seas. That job planted the seed for the “Elevating Boat”, a self propelled work boat that would lift out of the water and above the waves that they would create in the 1950’s. Today that industry which they created for the Gulf of Mexico oil fields is global and generally known as the lift boat industry. The company that they created is still active in south Louisiana.
Having almost drowned several times as he grew up, Dean was a strong believer that every child should be taught to swim. His company funded the pool and gym near Lynn Oaks School and the Gary Dean Memorial Pool which he donated to the St. Bernard Parish Schools on condition that every second grader be taught to swim. The St. Bernard Red Cross taught swimming programs at both pools. He was actively involved with Red Cross starting with Hurricane Emergencies such as 1965’s Hurricane Betsy.
After his lift boat and offshore crane company was well established, Dean began a 26 year long career in public offices starting with the St. Bernard School Board. He was instrumental in removing the hated “packet system”. He helped establish the Republican Party in St. Bernard. He was the first Parish President. He moved on to State Senator for District One for two terms and finished as Councilman at Large for the eastern district of St. Bernard Parish.
He was involved in many other philanthropic endeavors including Lynn Oaks School and a Caernarvon trade school for high school students that the school board returned to his company after the Community College began offering similar classes. He provided some trees from his property, manpower and equipment for Ellie Laurent’s tree planting project along Judge Perez Drive. He was the primary supporter of the Thelma Deano Battered Women’ Shelter.
A self made man, his legacy to his beloved St. Bernard area is the St. Bernard State Park and for education, the endowment of the Lynn and Jacqueline Dean Scholarship Fund administered by the St. Bernard Kiwanis Club.
The family thanks longterm caregivers Wendy, Mike, Melissa, Crystal, Lia and Cora. In his final days on the Northshore, Tammy, Theresa and Jane you were our angels here on earth!
All family, friends, employees, and general public are invited to attend the memorial service on
Thursday, July 28 at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 4499 Sharp Road, Mandeville, LA 70471
at 2:00 PM with visitation from 1:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers please send donations to your favorite charity or to the church where the service is being held. Please observe COVID Protocols.
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