Paul Dean September 21, 1939 - May 28, 2024

William Paul Dean, age 84 passed away peacefully on May 28, 2024. He was born September 21, 1939, to William Asa and Verla Mae Dean in Payson.

Paul was born in a two-room log cabin on what was then called Dead Man Hill in Payson. Paul’s father and uncles had harvested Quaking Aspen from Payson Canyon and hauled them to the site and built the cabin themselves. When Paul was seven years old, he and his parents and sisters moved up the hill on the same block.

Paul attended Payson schools and seminary and graduated from Payson High in 1957. His first summer after high school Paul worked at a pea viner forking peas into the viner in Salem. His father wanted to set him up in the poultry business and inquired around about some chicken coups they might rent. Fortunately, several of the elders in the ward suggested he finance a couple of semesters of school to see how Paul might do there. Paul enrolled in Winter and Spring quarters at Brigham Young University and surprised everyone by finishing that year with a 3.2 grade point average.

In March of 1958, Paul applied for a summer job with the Kaniksu National Forest in Northern Idaho. That summer he met a pretty, little, brown-eyed girl at church and began to fall in love with her. Paul and Virginia were married in the Salt Lake Temple in June of 1961. They spent their first three months working for the Kaniksu National Forest as fire look-outs on Gisborne Tower.

Paul enrolled at BYU that fall and they soon discovered they were expecting their first child, Judy. After one semester they were broke so Paul found work with Beneficial Finance in Ogden. Judy and LeAnn were born there, and Paul was transferred to Butte Montana. After three months Paul and Virginia decided to make a blind leap back to Provo to get back into school. They were both able to find part time jobs and Paul graduated BYU in 1966. Two more children, Sam and Rob were born, and Paul applied for a stipend at the State of Utah to attend graduate school and was accepted into the graduate Social Work program and earned the degree of Master of Social Work.

Paul transferred to Provo and baby Jill was born there. Paul and Virginia built a red brick home in Payson on the very spot where he was born. Ben, Matt, and Mark were born there, and Paul worked for the Division of family Services in Provo advocating for run-away girls and family counseling.

After 33 years of service to families in Utah, Paul retired from the Division of Child and Family Services and worked in a treatment center then for Wasatch Mental Health and as a child abuse investigator with the state of Utah. In 2004, Paul and Virginia were planning to build a home in Mona; they applied for a mission and were called to the Hong Kong mission. In 2007, they received another mission call-this time to East Malaysia.

Paul loved camping and climbing mountains with his children and to this day his children and grandchildren carry on that heritage. He had a favorite tree in the Pine Forest in Payson Canyon he loved to hug. His father called him the “man of the mountain’ because he spent so much time there.

Paul was a scoutmaster for many years, a bishop of the Payson Ward. He also worked as an ordinance worker in the Payson Temple.

He raised a beautiful garden and especially enjoyed raising the biggest and earliest tomatoes.

Another influence Paul had on his posterity was an appreciation for the series Star Trek. His children still talk about the escapades of Captain Kirk and Data.

Paul’s family is very important to him. Paul is survived by his wife, Virginia and eight children: Mark (Tulie) Dean, Matthew Dean, Benjamin Dean, Jill (John) Kay, Robert (Margie) Dean, Samuel (Akemi) Dean, LeAnn (Gary) Durfey, and Judy (David) Burnett. He has twenty grandchildren and twenty-one great-grandchildren. Also surviving Paul is his sister, Jenine, and his brother Marvin.

Family and friends are welcome to join us in a Celebration of Life that will be held June 8, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located at 65 East 100 North in Mona, Utah. Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the church prior to the service. Interment will be in Mona City Cemetery, 700 East Cemetery Lane, Mona, Utah.