Dean William FARMER

FARMER, DEAN, WOLCOTT, JONES, NEAL, CRAWFORD, HUFF, JANUARY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/9/2015 at 01:08:58

December 22, 1917 --- November 27, 2015

On 11/27/15 Dean William Farmer, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, formerly of Salisbury, Maryland, passed away. He was born in Steubenville, Ohio on 12/22/17. He was the son of William Scott Farmer, a native of George's Run, Ohio, and Nora [Dean] Farmer, who was born in Goldfield, Iowa, and then, as a young child, became a pioneer settler of the Oklahoma Territory. Both of his parents were the descendants of Colonial families and veterans of the Revolution who began migrating westward with the frontier in the 18th century.

When Dean was 5 years old, his father, an Ohio Valley steel mill foreman, died, and, from his early youth, Dean spent much of his free time working at odd jobs, helping to support his mother, and siblings.

After graduating from High School, Dean secured an entry level job working in the Copy Room of the local newspaper, The Steubenville Herald Star. On 09/30/38 he married Eleanor Jane Wolcott, the daughter of Lewellyn Mahan Wolcott and Helen [Jones] Wolcott. The marriage lasted for 68 years, until Eleanor's death at the age of 89.

During World War Two, Dean, and his brother Donald, both served with the United States Army. Dean served overseas in North Africa, India, Burma, and China. Entering the service as a private soldier, he was promoted first to Corporal and later to Staff Sargent. One of his more memorable war-time experiences was participating in a convoy over the newly-cut Burma Road to take badly needed supplies to Nationalist Chinese troops and then flying back across the Himalayas in a cargo plane. In later years, he enjoyed talking for hours to fellow veterans about their shared experiences in that conflict.

At the war's end, he returned to his job at the Herald Star, but soon accepted a promotion to work as an advertising salesman at another newspaper, The Canton Repository, in Canton, Ohio. He remained with the Canton Repository from 1948 until 1966 when he secured a job as Advertising Manager with The Salisbury Times. He was later promoted to Business Manager. He retired from the newspaper in 1979, but found that retirement did not suit him and he secured employment with Good News Honda, where he remained employed for 17 years. In 1996 he moved to Mechanicsville Virginia, and continued working, on a part-time basis, for a local grocery store. He continued that employment to the age of 95. On the days he was not working at the store, he cared for his wife, who was a Nursing Home resident.

He was a member of the Exchange Clubs of Canton, Salisbury, and Mechanicsville. Also an active member of various Methodist Churches in those three cities, as well as in Steubenville.

He is survived by his three sons and their families: Roger [Linda] Farmer of York, South Carolina, Alan Douglas [Margaret] Farmer of Salisbury, and, Gregory [Joyce] Farmer of Ashland, Virginia. He is also survived by six grandchildren and their families; Kevin [Mary] Farmer, Julia and Brian Neal, Rebecca and John Crawford all of Charlotte, N. Carolina; Douglas [Larissa] Farmer of Apex, N. Carolina, John Farmer and fiancé Julianne Huff of Parkville, Maryland and, Sarah [Todd] January of Mechanicsville, Virginia. Nine great grandchildren and two nieces also survive.

After nearly a century of hard work and service, to his family, community, and country, he will be laid to rest alongside his wife, parents, and other relatives in Union Cemetery, in his native Steubenville, Ohio.

The Daily Times -- Salisbury, Maryland
December 6, 2015