Reginald "Reg" Langworth Dean Jr. Obituary (1928

Reginald Langworthy Dean, Jr., 80, a resident of the Forest Grove community died Saturday morning, June 20, 2009 at his home. Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at the St Anthony Catholic Church in Forest Grove. A Memorial Mass will be held at Good Shepherd Catholic Church 8710 Mount Vernon Highway Alexandria, Virginia on August 18, 2009 at 10:30 AM. Interment will take place following the Memorial Mass to be held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia at 2:00 PM on August 18, 2009. Reginald Langworthy Dean, Jr. was born in Manila in the Philppines on June 29, 1928. His father was serving under the command of Gen. MacArthur. His father was in the Army Corps of Engineers and was assigned to do lock and dam work on the Mississippi River, so Reg lived in Missouri, Louisana, Iowa, and Maryland. During World War II he and his mother lived in an apartment near the National Zoo in Washington DC. He enjoyed taking the trolley out to Glen Echo Park and around the nation's capital. He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1946, but left after his plebe year to enter the Citadel in Charleston. He was the editor of the literary magazine, took movies of the football games and had a clandestine radio station. After graduation in 1951 he received a commission in the U.S. Army, married his sweetheart, Mary Ellen Keenan in New Haven, CT and began his more than twenty years' . He chose to work in the branch with tanks and armored vehicles. He spent several tours in Germany and did research and development in Detroit. He and Mary Ellen had four children: two born in Germany and two in CT. Reg's terminal assignment was at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. They bought a house adjacent to Mount Vernon. Their children grew to maturity and launched. Reg retired and attended American University to earn a master's degree. In addition to establishing the National Marina Association, working as a lobbyist for the Apartment Owner's Association of Northern Virginia, he worked for the American Service Center before finding his second career working for ISI (a contractor for the Navy doing foreign military sales). His wife died of a cancer-related illness after more than 35 years of a happy marriage. In 1988 Reg remarried Carol Ann Smith. He helped her launch her two teenagers. In 1991 he retired again and started his own company: Images by Dean, videotaping weddings and special events. He and Carol shot events on weekends, and during the week he spent most of his time editing. He decided to retire one final time to pursue his lifelong passion for photography. He and Carol were traveling in Nova Scotia when he was felled by a stroke which robbed his of his speech and much of his mobility. He did manage to travel. For the next nine years he was dependent on Carol to get him where he was going. He still enjoyed life and was able to live at home – even when home moved from VA to OR. He died peacefully in his own bed in the arms of his loving wife. He is survived by his wife, Carol, their children Reggie, Kelley, Ellen, Anne, Scott and Nicki and their spouses as well as eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers we ask that donations be made to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in his memory.