Warren Dean Steanson

Warren Dean Steanson was born on Thursday, June 29, 1922, on a farm north of Calumet, Oklahoma. He was the sixth of seven children born to Stean M. and Edna M. (Canning) Steanson. He lived in Glendale, California while going to school; served in the South Pacific during World War II; and returned to Oklahoma following the war. In 1949, he moved to a farm in Pleasanton, Kansas and to a farm in Franklin County, Kansas near Ottawa in 1973. In November of 2009, he became a resident of the Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, where he made his home until his death on Thursday, March 3, 2011, at the age of eighty-eight years. Dean attended the Lone Star Country School through the eighth grade and graduated from Calumet High School with the class of 1941. He then attended and graduated from Aero Industries Technical Institute in Glendale, California. He worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in 1941 and 1942 and returned to work on the family farm in Calumet, Oklahoma from 1942 until his induction into the Army in 1943. Dean was inducted into the United States Army on August 25, 1943. He was in basic training at Camp Walters, Texas and sent to the South Pacific War Theatre. Upon his arrival there, he was transferred from the infantry to the Air Corp and served with the 390th Bomb Squadron of the 13th Jungle Air Force for two years until the end of WWII. He was a sheet metal fabricator and repairman on B-25 bombers. He served in various places in the South Pacific but mostly in Sanispore, New Guinea, and Palawan Island in the Philippines. He earned the rank of Corporal and was honorably discharged on December 20, 1945. Following the war, he helped with the family farm in Oklahoma and, in 1949, purchased a farm with his father and brother in Pleasanton, Kansas. They operated general crop and livestock farming. After a few years, he purchased their shares. In 1973, a coal strip mining operation was started in Linn County near the farm. The farm was sold and the farming operation was moved to Franklin County, Kansas, southwest of Ottawa. Dean continued farming with a cattle herd and hog operation for several years and then leased the farm in the late 1970’s and became a licensed plumber. He first worked for Hoopes Plumbing until joining his son’s plumbing company, Steanson Plumbing, in Ottawa. He retired in 2003 at the age of 81. He served on the Farm Bureau Board, Farm Credit Service Board, Linn County Soil Conservationist Board, School District Board, Rural Water District Board, Board of Disciples of Christ Church, and Disciples of Christ Christian Men’s Fellowship District Board, Plumbing Board of Appeals, Codes Enforcement Board, and Home Base, Inc. Governing Board. He and Doloris were also involved with the First Christian Church of Ottawa and Bethany Park Christian Church in Lawrence, Kansas. On December 19, 1946, Dean was united in marriage with Doloris Collier in Kansas City, Kansas. She survives of their home. He is also survived by his son, Ray Dean Steanson and his wife, Betsy, of Ottawa; two daughters, Carol Canipe and her husband, Marcus, of Overland Park, Kansas, Judith Ferguson, of Overland Park, Kansas; five grandchildren, Christopher Canipe, Elizabeth Oliver, Meghan Canipe, Abigail Ferguson, Seth Ferguson; and four great-grandchildren, Evan Oliver, Simon Oliver, Peter Oliver and Will Wise. He is preceded in death by his parents; three sisters, Edith Steanson, Evelyn Steanson, Dorothy Reese; and three brothers, Charles Steanson, Don Steanson, and Wesley Steanson. SERVICES: Memorial Services will be held from the Dengel & Son Mortuary in Ottawa at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, March 7, 2011, followed by family and friends’ visitation. IN STATE: Cremation is planned. MEMORIALS: The family suggests memorial contributions to Hope House, c/o Dengel & Son Mortuary, 235 S. Hickory, Ottawa, Kansas 66067. Condolences may be e-mailed to the family through dengelmortuary@sbcglobal.net.