Dean F. Orth

• Corporal
• Served: October 20, 1952 – October 19, 1954
• Korean War
• Signal Corps – Radio Operator Instructor, Camp Gordon, GA
• Awarded: National Defense Service Medal

Deceased March 6, 1974. Interred Rochester Cemetery, Rochester, Wisconsin.

Dean was born in Kenosha, WI but lived until adulthood in the small town of Rochester in Racine County. He was active in scouting, became an Eagle Scout and was in the Racine Scout Drum & Bugle Corps for several years as a drummer. He was about to start his senior year at the then Milwaukee State Teachers College as a music education major in 1952 when he was drafted into the Army during the Korean conflict. His education was put on hold for the next 2 years, but he did go back to school after discharge under the G.I. bill and received his bachelor’s degree in 1955. He then moved with his wife, Beverly and a daughter to Benton Harbor, MI where he taught music in the public schools. Shortly after discharge from the Army, he was diagnosed with diabetes but he continued his education in the summer months and received a master’s degree.

In the years that followed, he and Beverly had 5 more children but his diabetes continued to cause numerous complications, including blindness which necessitated the end of his teaching career in music. Dean died at the age of 42 in 1974 from the complications of diabetes leaving his devoted wife and six children.