Dean Ornell Stevenson

Dean Ornell Stevenson passed away peacefully at home on January 11th, 2022.

Dean Ornell Stevenson was born on May 12th, 1931, to Cleon Stevenson and Jewell Tuttle Stevenson. Dean Stevenson grew up on a farm in southern Illinois and attended a one-room schoolhouse in the small town of Marissa. He was president of his high school's Future Farmers of America chapter. Dean moved to Michigan in the early 1950's to work in the car industry. He was an afternoon shift grinding machine operator, making valve springs for the Big Three car makers. Later, he would run that factory and later he was promoted to a Regional Manager and transferred to Dallas, TX. From there, he was moved to their corporate HQ in CT and ran first their International Division, then their Aerospace and Aeronautics division. He enjoyed sharing stories of his travels around the world on the private company jet, starting up, buying, and selling factories in Asia, Europe, and Central and South America. He returned to Texas when he retired and ran an expansive antique furniture business in multiple locations and wound it down when he was 89. Dean had an incredible ability to figure things out. To supplement his factory income, and with no prior experience he started a plumbing business, working both jobs, with Douglas and Tom always by his side as his coworkers. Later, Dean bought land in the country and gave up plumbing in favor of overhauling, painting, and restoring vintage Ford 8N tractors. Dean and his sons spent countless hours driving through Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana scouting old tractors, and by his count they bought, completely restored, and sold 134 Ford tractors over the years. Number #135 was in process in his Texas garage at the time of his passing. He and his sons built two houses on their farm themselves, and restored and flipped another, in between overhauling tractor engines and fixing cars.
Dean is survived by his siblings Joanne and husband Elmer Dean Sauerwein, Lloyd Stevenson and wife Helga, Dennis Stevenson and wife Susie; children Douglas Stevenson and wife Bernadine Baisch, Thomas Stevenson and wife Rene, Renee Stevenson, Scott Stevenson, Christopher Stevenson and wife Liana, Dru Stevenson and wife Mary Beth, Andrea and husband Joe Davis; grandchildren Colette and husband Toby Gee, Cullen and wife Kara Miyasato, Edward, Helena, Sadie, Clara, Carver, Josiah, David, Becky, Jonathan, Gideon, Marissa; and great-grandchild Kaito. Dean is preceded in death by his parents Cleon and Jewell (Tuttle) Stevenson and his sibling Loren Stevenson.