 Private graveside services for Dean C. Wheaton, age 90, of Watertown, SD, were held on Monday, May 24, 2010, at Mt. Hope Cemetery, Watertown, SD. Military honors were provided by Codington County Post #17 of the American Legion of Watertown and the Military Funeral Honors Team of the SD Army National Guard. Rev. Joel Higgins officiated. Dean passed away on May 19, 2010, in Sioux Falls, SD.
Dean was born on December 22, 1919, in Watertown, SD, to Roy C. and Minnie (Harkins) Wheaton. He graduated from Watertown High School in 1937. He attended college at SDSU in Brookings, SD, for a short time and then attended St. Thomas College in St. Paul, MN, for two and one half years at which time he received his orders to report to the Naval Air Station in Minneapolis, MN, for three months to complete his flight training. He was then transferred to the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, TX, for advanced flight training. He graduated from the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi on December 23, 1942, at which time Dean received his Commission and Gold Wings as a Naval Aviator. He served as a Lieutenant and flew patrol missions in the South Atlantic from the Naval Air Station at Panama during WWII. Dean was engaged in Air-Sea Rescue Operations in joint programs with the Army Air Corp in B-17 Army Bombers Aircraft.
On August 13, 1943, he was married by the Coast Guard Chaplain to Eve Jenkins in Miami, FL. The couple lived in several communities in the United States. In the late summer of 1945, Dean received orders for Air Craft Carrier duty in the South Pacific. Upon his arrival at the San Diego Air Station, that particular operation had been cancelled. He had six weeks left for active service and chose a carrier aircraft service unit in Pasco, WA, for this duty. He was then released to inactive duty with a Certificate of Satisfactory Service on November 11, 1945, and was discharged from the Naval Air Station at Great Lakes, IL. Dean received a letter from the President of the United States, dated February 28, 1950, with a promotion to a full Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve of the United States Navy. He worked for International Transport based out of Rochester, MN, starting out as Division Manager, then Director of Terminals, and held various positions at various locations. He retired in 1982 as Director of Fleet Operations in the western states and served as sales manager in the same areas.
Dean and Eve moved to Watertown after his retirement in 1982. He was inducted to the SD Aviation Hall of Fame at the Clyde Ice Airport in Spearfish, SD, on August 20, 1994. In April of 2002, the couple moved to Paris, IL, to be close to Eve’s family. Eve passed away on August 21, 2002. That same year, Dean sold their home in Illinois and returned to Watertown.
He was a member of the Methodist Church, Exchange Club, Lions Club, and various Transportation Traffic Clubs in the Midwest and West Coast. He was 32nd Degree Mason in the Valley of Chicago, and also a member of the Medinah Shrine Club of Chicago. Dean and his wife were both members of the White Shrine Club of Lincoln, IL.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Eve; one son, Michael; one brother, Earl; and one sister, Iva Morrison. |
