Robert Dean Pierce, age 84, of Lamoni, Iowa, the son of James Henry and Jessie Belle (Cook) Pierce, was born June 15, 1931, in Ridgeway, Missouri. He recently left this life on Wednesday, December 30, 2015, at the Lamoni Nursing and Rehab Center.
Dean graduated from Ridgeway High School in 1949. He was always a good student and was good with words and spelling and also learned to become a good typist, a skill that helped him as he volunteered and entered the United States Air Force in 1950. He served his country for four years and attained the rank of Staff Sargent. His first year of duty was spent at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas as part of Squadron 3705, Flight 5988. After that initial year he spent two years stationed in Germany during the Korean War. After his overseas tour, he was sent back stateside to Lake Charles, Louisiana for his last year in the Air Force. While in the Service, Dean was married to Greta Marie Salmon on October 6, 1951, in Gallatin, Missouri. They lived in Louisiana before his honorable discharge on October 15, 1954. At that time they moved back to Bethany, Missouri.
Most of Dean’s adult working life was spent working for Michigan Wisconsin Pipeline Company. He transferred a couple of times for his job, so his family lived in Missouri and Kansas for a short period of time before settling down in Lamoni, Iowa in 1963. While working for the Pipeline he dove into his other interests which included starting his own business, Deans TV; which later became Dean’s Cablevision. Eventually, he had the rights to Lamoni and ten other communities in northern Missouri to be the cable TV provider. After twenty years in the cable business he sold them and retired.
Dean always loved sports and in his younger days he even tried out for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. He played fast pitch softball until he was 51 years old. While stationed in Germany, he played baseball on the Air Force team. Dean also enjoyed hunting and fishing. He liked birddogs and raised Brittany puppies. Some of his loves beyond his family were — St. Louis Cardinals baseball, golf, John F. Kennedy, Bing Crosby, black coffee, sweet corn, the Iowa State Cyclones and Christmas music. Dean was also known for his great sense of humor.
He was a member of a cable TV trade organization and was honored in their magazine. He was also a member of the Lamoni Golf and Country Club and enjoyed helping out there.
Preceding him in death were his parents and nine siblings, Charles Franklin Pierce, Leland Ray Pierce, Glen Harvey Pierce, Lloyd Gerald Pierce, James Leonard Pierce, Asa Dee Pierce, Joseph Morton Pierce, Roberta Faye Bennett and Alice Arvon Ragan. Survivors include his wife, Greta Pierce of Lamoni; children Teresa & husband Chris Stoll of Lamoni, Tina & husband Keith Fine of Milford, Kansas, and David & wife Jennifer Pierce of Granger, Iowa; six grandchildren, Ashley & husband Thom Edwards, Brett Boswell, Kyle & wife Kallie Stoll, Chase & wife Danica Stoll, Jordan Pierce and Hunter Pierce; great grandchildren, Sawyer Stoll and Nola Stoll; brother, Richard Henry Pierce and wife Veda Rose of Grain Valley, Missouri; sister Mary Jo Vandiver of Bethany, Missouri; many nieces and nephews; and other relatives and friends.