Eddie Dean BRIDGES

BRIDGES, JENSEN, JUHL, STEILOW, BLONG, ANDERSON, MORGAN, IEHL, BLONG, SEIDEL, SMITH, ARSENAULT

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/4/2009 at 15:07:54

MASON CITY - Eddie Dean "Dean'er" Bridges, 77, of 712 S. Pierce in Mason City, died Saturday (Sept. 26, 2009) at the Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City. A funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 at the Fullerton Funeral Home, 123 Second St. S.E. in Mason City, with Sister Diana Blong officiating. Burial with military honors will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery in Mason City. The family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. today, Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the funeral home. For those desiring, memorials may be made to the Dean Bridges Memorial Fund.

Eddie Dean was born Feb. 17, 1932, in Elma, Iowa, the son of Wayne and Gudrun "Gertie" (Jensen) Bridges. He moved to Galveston, Texas, with his mother when he was a toddler, and lived there through his graduation from Ball High School in 1952. His achievements included overcoming polio, Texas boys All-State chorus, President of the Junior Classical League, Senior Editor for his yearbook, reporter for the school paper, and was a Good Fellow Nominee. In his young life, he also provided a lot of love and support to his younger siblings while his mother worked. Eddie Dean was a proud member of the U.S. Marine Corps and served active duty from 1952-55 as a Chaplain's Assistant in Korea during the Korean Conflict. When he received his separation papers, he decided to station himself in Iowa to get reacquainted with his brother and sisters.

He worked at the Texaco Station in Belmond for several years. He married Judith Juhl in Garner in 1962. To this union came his most prized possessions, his two children, Kenny and Jeanie!! In 1963, they moved to Mason City where Dean took a job at Mercy Hospital for $1/hour as an orderly. Dean soon transferred to Physical Therapy department as a P.T. Assistant. Dean spent the next 30 years enjoying his job. He touched a lot of lives and hearts through his employment, with patients, families and employees at the hospital. Although he loved his job, he decided to accept early retirement in 1993. His body was ready to take a break and the week he was supposed to retire he made his first visit to Mercy as a patient and ended up having a quadruple bypass. He proudly went to the retirement ceremonies dressed in his hospital gown and slippers pushing the I.V. Dean's biggest passion was music. He was all-state choir in junior high and high school. He was a proud Baritone member of the River City Barbershop Chorus in 1975. He was active in the large chorus and instrumental in organizing quartets. His long-term quartet was the "Minor Leaguers" and although the other three harmonizers changed faces, the quartet was still performing at the national anthem at the hockey games. Dean traveled to England, an ambassador for Barbershopping, and made a lot of great friends with the Bristol Chorus. In 1989, Dean wore one of his biggest smiles when he received the "Barbershopper of the year" award from the River City Chorus. In 1985, Dean was approached with the idea of being a housing parent for Junior Hockey League players. He reluctantly accepted the challenge that changed his life and brought him so much joy for the rest of his years here on earth. He housed a total of approximately 58 North Iowa Huskies players and always had an open door for all team members who he frequently referred to as "Good Buds". That's where he got the title "Dean'er". When the North Iowa Outlaws came to Mason City, Dean had moved into a one-bedroom apartment and couldn't house players, but he still adopted players as he took tickets at all the games and participated in team functions. Dean's favorite hockey team, however, was whatever team his grandsons played on. For years he made it to every practice and game they had as youth hockey players. His pride was evident as he wore their buttons on his coats and repeated the cheer "That's my Grandson." The past five years he spent nearly every evening taking orders from and watching Spongebob with his youngest grandchild, Hunter Dean. Dean enjoyed watching game shows, several of the reality series and rarely missed his "Days of Our Lives" or "Judge Judy". His other hobby was making wallpaper out of the bazillion photos he had. Every day he looked forward to checking to see how much mail he got from his adoring fans, but was usually met with bills or requests for charity!!

Eddie Dean is survived by his son, Ken (Tammy) Bridges, of Durham, N.C., daughter, Jeanie Blong (Brad Seidel), of Mason City; grandchildren, Carew, Kelsey and Jordan Bridges, of Durham, N.C., Paul and Marc Blong, of Mason City, and Hunter Seidel, of Mason City; sisters, Charlene (Willis) Anderson, of Belmond, Clara Steilow, Alden and Sharon Kay (Merrell) Smith, of Houston, Texas; brother, James (Janette) Morgan, Houston, Texas; as well as many nieces and nephews and cousins, plus hundreds of "Good Buds" (hockey players) and "pretend grandchildren". He was preceded in death by his parents and grandparents; his sister, Helen (Herd) Arsenault; brother, Robert Iehl; son-in-law, David Blong; and faithful canine companion and Huskies mascot, PeeWee. Fullerton Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 123 Second St. S.E. Mason City.

Mason City Globe Gazette -- Iowa
September 30, 2009