Dean was born in Vandling, a small coal mining town in the northeast part of Pennsylvania in 1921. His ethnic background was a combination of his mother Annie's Slovenian roots and his father Dean's mixed bag that included English and native American influences. Dean had 3 sisters, Ardis, Ruth & Wanda, and 1 brother, Robert. His childhood was like most in small towns during the post-depression era before World War II. A favorite game to play with new kids in the neighborhood was "20 Pickets", which involved blindfolding the newcomer and having him count out 20 pickets on a long fence. The 20th picket would have a cow turd stuck on it. Deans childhood nick-name was Butch.

The Vandling area was the site of the largest underground coal-mine fire in the country, which went on for years & years. Most men, including relatives of Dean's, were employed in the mines and suffered from Black Lung. The whole town had a scent of burning coal fumes, even the black cast iron stove in the Sherwood house burned coal. Part of Dean's daily routine was to sweep out the ashes that dropped to the bottom of the stove into a pail that was allowed to cool before being carried across the street & dumped into the woods.

He entered the military after high school and was immediately sent from boot-camp to Italy, France, and Africa, where he was part of a team of soldiers whose job it was to infiltrate enemy areas that were about to be invaded and run hidden communications wires. In later years, he would speak very little about his time in the service, saying only that he'd seen "enough to last a lifetime".

On return from the war, he went to visit relatives in Rochester, New York, as a brief vacation before returning to Vandling in search of work. His uncle Rex suggested he seek work in Rochester and quickly got him a job in a factory that made railway crossing signals, as an electrical testing engineer. Rooming in an attic bedroom with his cousin Rexford, he soon began to meet & socialize with his friends including Dottie Hoffmann. His hobbies included an interest in photography that found him using a converted large format Army camera that had originally been mounted in a plane.

He married Dottie in April of 1949 & they lived in an apartment for 5 years before buying a house & starting a family. He was fond of saying that they had lived their retirement years first. They had a girl Dora, & 2 boys, Duane & Donald. He was known amongst his friends & relations for his dry wit and kept appearance. He and Dottie lived a quiet, simple life and never argued.

In May of 1969, 20 years and 1 month after marrying Dottie, he died suddenly one Saturday afternoon of a massive heart attack. Dottie never re-married, saying that she had found her man & couldn't imagine ever finding a better one.