Dean H. Garner
1927 - 2014
USAR
WWII
Dean Howard Garner was born April 28, 1927 in Jackson, Michigan, to Howard C. and Marion Lock Garner.
Garner was a champion athlete, excelling in football, baseball, and track. In 1944, he was selected to Michigan’s All-State high school football team.
After two years of military duty for the U.S. Army in Europe at the close of World War II, he returned to Jackson in 1947.
Garner played semi-pro football for the Jackson Metro All-Stars, and was recruited to play for Michigan State University, where he became a star varsity athlete. In 1951, he helped lead the Spartans to an undefeated season and their first national championship. While at MSU, Garner was a member of the Epsilon Rho chapter of Sigma Nu Fraternity. He graduated in 1952 and began a long career as a sales engineer and manager with Alcoa Aluminum.
Garner met his wife, Phyllis Voelpel, when he was posted in Chicago. The couple married on November 30, 1957, on the campus of Northwestern University; they raised two children. After two decades and three family moves with Alcoa, Garner left the firm, and the family moved to Barrington. In 1979, Garner founded and was a partner in the firm Marhoffer-Garner, the first independent firm to represent Alcoa products. After his retirement in 1993, he and his traveled to destinations in Canada, Europe and the Middle East.
Garner was a member of the VFW Post 7706, a deacon at the Presbyterian Church of Barrington Hills, and a volunteer for both Meals-on-Wheels and the Barrington Area Library. He was a music lover who played jazz trombone. He also was an avid golfer.
Veteran Dean Garner passed away peacefully November 30, 2014 in Barrington, and is buried with his wife in Evergreen Cemetery.
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Remember. Honor. Teach.
Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.