Harold “Dean” Shank

Harold Dean Shank (“Dean”) passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 5,2018. Dean was born on September 2,
1926 in Golden City, Missouri to Guy and Myrtle Shank. He was the older of two children.

Dean was a graduate of North High School in Wichita, Kansas and attended Wichita State University. In 1944
Dean joined the U.S. Merchant Marine. He worked on a ship hauling fuel to Navy ships and they crossed the
South Pacific six times. Dean enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951. In 1955 he was stationed at an Air Force base
in French Morocco and completed his duties there.

Dean married Shirley Ruth Hartert in 1948. After moving across the country several times for the U.S. Air Force,
they settled in Newton, Kansas where Dean went to work at Kansas Gas & Electric. He made many lifelong
friends at KG&E and retired after 35 years.

The time Dean spent in the military allowed him to travel the world and he never lost that love of travel. In 1993
he drove to Alaska by himself and spent a month exploring Alaska and Northern Canada.

Dean had a life-long affair with cars, cameras and photography, good food and coconut cream pie (actually any
kind of pie). Even into his nineties, he was always up for an outing to a restaurant or social event. He loved math
and science and anything about NASA and astronomy. He loved cars but he never had a brand new one. He was
highly intelligent and had a great sense of humor. He was an accomplished photographer before cameras were
digital. He was a very careful, meticulous, orderly person and if he visited your home, he would be glad to reset
your clocks to Greenwich Mean Time! He could fix just about anything and all his skills will be greatly missed.

A beloved husband, father, brother, grandfather and great-grandfather, Dean was preceded in death by his wife
Shirley and his parents Guy and Myrtle Shank. His survivors include two daughters, Suzanne Harrison of Cypress,
Texas and Lynda Wallis of San Antonio, Texas, sister Joyce Williams of Wichita, Kansas, grandson Keenan Sherfy
and great-grandson Dean of San Antonio, Texas and several cousins, nieces, nephews and a host of friends.

There will be a private graveside service at Lakeview Cemetery in Wichita, Kansas. If you wish to honor the life of
Harold Dean Shank, you may make a donation to The Legend of John Fund at Kansas Christian Home in Newton,
Kansas.