Delmar Dean Houser September 18, 1941 - February 23, 2025

Delmar Dean Houser was born September 18, 1941, in a house called The Green House that sat in an apple orchard in Filer, Idaho to Florence Blanche Roth and Jacob Ray Houser. He was the third of four children.  He passed away February 23, 2025 in St. George, Utah.  He was 83 years old.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Bonita Beer Sparling Houser; four children, Lonnie (Carla), Michael (Traycie), Tom (Dorothy) Sparling and Cindy (Wes) Jones; 21 grandchildren, 29 great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews who love their Uncle Dean.

He is preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Don Houser; sister, Vaila Kinney; 2 sons, Jim and Steve Sparling.  He was also preceded in death by his tiny namesake, Michael Dean, a grandson that lived for 30 hours and died on Christmas Day in 1988.

Dean spent his childhood and youth on a farm in Filer, Idaho.  He loved the hard work and rewards of farm life:  driving tractor, shoveling ditches, milking cows, keeping sheep and stacking hay.

Dean’s working career included managing a Bean Warehouse in Filer, Idaho, and owning two steel businesses in Indiana.

Dean was married to Bettie Baker for 12 years; together they had two sons: Lonnie and Mike.  Dean was a natural father and loved being with his sons, especially raising them on the farm and working with the animals.

In 1975, Dean met a new girl in town, Bonita Beer Sparling, a single mother with four children, who had recently gotten a job at his place of employment: Keystone Seed Company in Twin Falls, Idaho.  He knew from the moment he saw her that there was something different about her and he wanted to know her.  He admired her silently from afar for six months.  Then one morning, Bonnie found six red roses sitting on her desk with a note that read, “A rose for every month I’ve known you.”  The ice was broken, and Bonnie and Dean married and blended their families on June 11, 1976.

Dean’s family not only tripled in size when he married Bonnie, but he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that same year.  Adding to his active life as a working man and a family man, he now also became a church man.  He was faithful to his testimony of Jesus until the end of his life and spent over 40 years in dedicated service to his faith.  Among his callings, he served as a counselor in two bishoprics and on the high council.  He and Bonnie served two full time missions in San Diego, California and Cove Fort, Utah.  Dean treasured these years and the healing that they brought into his life as he loved and served.

Underneath his gruff exterior, Dean was not only a romantic, but his heart beat with a love that was not dependent upon blood ties.  He loved all his children and grandchildren equally.  He was a baby whisperer.  His warm chest and steady breath soothed and comforted any baby within reach.

Dean not only offered a safe place for the babies, he could always be depended upon to fix whatever you needed fixing. Whether it was a leaky faucet or a weepy heart, Dean’s strong shoulders, know-how and dependability were always at the ready, his love and service never wavering.

Over the years Dean developed a love of reading and would often be seen with a Louis L’Amour novel peeking from his back pocket.  He was also an excellent woodturner in his later years.  The homes of many family members and friends are graced with Dean’s beautifully finished wood pieces. He and Bonnie enjoyed traveling.  A highlight of their journeys together was visiting the Holy Land. For many years, they followed the sun, spending winters in a home in Mexico or in their RV in Arizona.  Wherever they went, they made many friends with whom they would travel, puzzle, and play cards.

The foundation of Dean’s stalwart character was established early and kept throughout his life.  In 1959, Dean’s classmates at Filer High School wrote of him in his senior yearbook “still waters run deep.”   It is a description to which he remained true.  Dean was a still and powerful man whose words were firm and few, whose laugh was booming and abundant, and whose love and devotion to his family and faith ran deep.

His steady influence and love will be dearly missed.  But we know that his joy is complete as he walks and talks in the garden with his Lord and prepares a place for us to tarry with him there, the dew still on the roses, when our time and times are done.

Funeral services for Dean will be on March 10, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. at Walker Funeral Home at 187 S Main St. Spanish Fork, UT 84660.  His service will be streamed live from the website walkermemorials.com.

Flowers may be sent to Walker Funeral Home.

After the service, interment will be at Spanish Fork City Cemetery

420 E 400 N Spanish Fork, UT 84660