TILDEN — Services for Dean Brown, 98, Oakdale, will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, at Brockhaus-Harlan Funeral Home in Tilden. John Petersen will officiate with burial in Oakdale Cemetery.
Visitation will begin an hour prior to the service.
Dean Brown died Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, at Arbor Care Center in Neligh.
1923-2022
Dean Levern Brown, son of David and Grace (Arehart) Brown, was born April 8, 1923, at Meadow Grove. Dean’s family moved to Genoa and then west of Elgin, where he started kindergarten. In 1929, they moved to Oakdale, where he attended Oakdale Elementary and Oakdale High School.
On Sept. 25, 1945, Dean was united in marriage to Betty Hoyda at a house on main street in Oakdale by a retired Methodist minister. They were blessed with six children: Lewis, Timothy, Arthur, Bonnie, Leona and Elaine.
In his early years, Dean worked several different jobs, including for Stickley Hybrid in the fall picking corn and, in the winter, he went to Omaha to wash milk bottles off of 24th and Q Street.
Dean was employed for 38 years on the Antelope County Road Crew from 1950 until 1988. He served on the Oakdale Fire Department for 50 years.
Dean and Betty loved traveling, camping and meeting people. He enjoyed woodworking, working with leather and gardening. Even when he couldn’t get outside, COVID couldn’t keep him from growing his tomatoes and flowers. Dean also loved to do quilting.
Dean is survived by his children, Bonnie (Jerry) Sears of Sweetwater, Tenn., Timothy (Claudia) Brown of Oakdale, Elaine Cuffe of Tilden, and Arthur (Evelyn) Brown of Sour Lake, Texas; nine grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; and his siblings, Ardella Overton of Fremont, Rosella Voborny of Neligh and Clifford (Babe) Brown of Eureka Springs, Ark.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his spouse, Betty Brown; a son, Lewis Brown; a daughter, Leona Peters; a brother, Lyman Brown; a sister, Martha Nelson; and a grandson, Jimmy Peters.
