Ervin Roy Dean, age 83, of Piedmont died at home at 6:15 p.m. Friday, November 6, 2015 following a long illness.
He was born May 28, 1932 in Holloway, Belmont County, Ohio; a son of the late Henry Roy Dean and Mary Janet Pickering Dean.
Ervin was a 1951 graduate of Holloway High School. He was a Marine Corp veteran, serving his country during the Korean War from 1951 to 1954.
After completing his military tour, he worked at Republic Steel in Canton, Ohio. Shortly after that he started a long mining career with years at Oglebay Norton Mine in St. Clairsville, then Ireland Mine in Moundsville, West Virginia where he was on the Mine Rescue and Safety teams. He then moved his family back to the home area and began working at the Y&O Coal Mine in Hopedale. Eventually he went into the safety field of mining and retired as a Federal mine inspector with Mine Safety and Health Administration out of the Cadiz office.
He was a member of the Moorefield Township Volunteer Fire Department, the Freeport Masonic Lodge No. 0415 and worked for the Piedmont Water Department.
Surviving is his wife of sixty-three years, Wilma J. Holstein Dean. They were married December 21, 1951.
Also surviving are three children: Kenneth Dean of Moorefield, Debra (Don) Fox of The Villages, Florida, and Leonard (Sherry) of Tippecanoe; twelve grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.
Ervin was preceded in death by a son, Bruce Dean and three brothers, Vernell Dean, Paul Dean and Carl Dean.
Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, November 14, 2015 in Moorefield Cemetery. Koch Funeral Home, Freeport handled the arrangements. Online condolences may be made on the funeral home’s website at www.kochfuneralhome.net