Mrs. Vernon L. Dean

Mrs. Vernon Bradford DeanFuneral services for Vernon Lachunce Dean will be held at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 20, 2013 at Kilgore Baptist Church with Rev. Gary L. Walker officiating. Burial will follow at Kilgore Baptist Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Victory Funeral Services. Vernon was born in Dallas, Texas on Friday, July 3, 1934 to the parentage of Henry and Frankie Bradford. On Tuesday, November 12, 2013 she departed this life at Good Shepherd Medical Center. She united with the Bates Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church at an early age and later at Kilgore Baptist Church where she was an active lead songstress in the adult choir, member of the Women’s Missionary Society, an awesome financial supporter and served as a deaconess for more than 50 years.  Having been blessed with a beautiful soprano voice she was often a featured vocalist during her school days at Kilgore Colored High School where she graduated in the Class of 1952. Her love for her alma mater led her to work and hold offices in the alumni and ex-student associations for Kilgore Colored High School/C. B. Dansby High School. After graduation she attended Texas College and Modern Beauty School in Tyler, Texas. She worked for 50 plus years as a hairdresser. She was also a former member of the Fannie Rausaw Garden Club. Her gracious giving spirit allowed her to act as a caretaker for many including her late sister, Mercedes, her mother-in-law, Geneva Dean Henderson and her husband, Willie. She was a natural nurturer and was known to prepare and deliver meals to the sick and shut-in even on Sundays before attending church. Her good friend, Phyllis Fisher stated, “She will be sadly missed by our entire community; Kilgore Baptist Church family; every charitable organization in Gregg County; remote families whose elderly parents she nurtured (mine especially, for many years), all the young people she counseled and supported, and her amazing soprano that must be pealing throughout the celestial universe.” On June 7, 1953, Vernon united in holy matrimony with Willie D. Dean. Later in 1968, Willie Antonio Dean was added to the family as their son. Her parents, her sister, Mercedes Bradford, brother, Henry Bradford and chosen brother, Alonzo Jernigan all preceded her in death.She leaves to cherish her husband of 60 years, Willie D. Dean of Kilgore, TX; son, Willie Antonio Dean of Palestine, TX; three nieces and their spouses, Pat Miles of Kansas City, MO; Millicent and Joshua Thompson, III and Nikea and Travis McGee all  of Houston, TX; two nephews, Henry and Stacy Bradford, Jr. and Claude and Thea Bradford all of Houston, TX; sister-in-law, Inez Dean of Grand Prairie, TX; special cousins, Janice Puryear of St. Louis, MO and Ruby Pegues of Kilgore, TX; special friends, Ruby Manning of Kilgore, TX and Dr. Phyllis Dansby Fisher of Copiague, NY and many more relatives and friends. Public viewing will be Tuesday, November 19, 2013, starting at noon until 6:00 p.m. at Victory Funeral Services.