Harold "Dean" Shank
Obituary
Harold Dean Shank ("Dean")
passed away peacefully on Saturday (May 5, 2018). Dean was born on
Sept. 2, 1926, in Golden City, Missouri, to Guy and Myrtle Shank. He
was the older of two children.
Dean was a graduate of North High
School in Wichita and attended Wichita State University. In 1944,
Dean joined the U.S. Merchant Marine. He worked on a ship hauling
fuel to Navy ships and they crossed the South Pacific six times. Dean
enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951. In 1955, he was stationed at
an Air Force base in French Morocco and completed his duties there.
Dean married Shirley Ruth Hartert in
1948. After moving across the country several times for the U.S. Air
Force, they settled in Newton, where Dean went to work at Kansas Gas
& Electric. He made many lifelong friends at KG&E and retired
after 35 years.
The time Dean spent in the military
allowed him to travel the world and he never lost that love of
travel. In 1993, he drove to Alaska by himself and spent a month
exploring Alaska and Northern Canada.
Dean had a lifelong affair with cars,
cameras and photography, good food and coconut cream pie (actually
any kind of pie). Even into his 90s, he was always up for an outing
to a restaurant or social event. He loved math and science and
anything about NASA and astronomy. He loved cars, but he never had a
brand new one. He was highly intelligent and had a great sense of
humor. He was an accomplished photographer before cameras were
digital. He was a very careful, meticulous, orderly person and if he
visited your home, he would be glad to reset your clocks to Greenwich
Mean Time! He could fix just about anything and all his skills will
be greatly missed.
A beloved husband, father, brother,
grandfather and great-grandfather, Dean was preceded in death by his
wife, Shirley; and his parents, Guy and Myrtle Shank.
His survivors include two daughters,
Suzanne Harrison of Cypress, Texas, and Lynda Wallis of San Antonio,
Texas; sister Joyce Williams of Wichita; grandson, Keenan Sherfy;
great-grandson, Dean of San Antonio, Texas; and several cousins,
nieces, nephews and a host of friends.
There will be a private graveside
service at Lakeview Cemetery in Wichita.
If you wish to honor the life of Harold
Dean Shank, you may make a donation to The Legend of John Fund at
Kansas Christian Home in Newton.
