DEAN, WALTER JOHN (1875-1958)

DEAN, WALTER JOHN, Methodist minister, Newcastle circuit, 1909-12; b. St Helens, Lancashire, England, 25 Dec 1875, s/o Thomas Dean and Jane Pollard; m. 1st, Frances Eliza Copp, of Port Elgin, N.B., and 2nd, Helen R. Rearick, a native of Illinois; d. Daytona Beach, Fla., 25 May 1958.

Walter J. Dean worked in a glassmaking establishment in England while finishing his grammar school studies and preparing for certification as a local Methodist preacher. He also spent a winter in attendance at the Joyful News Home for Evangelists in Rochdale, England, after which he was sent to Newfoundland as a probationer for the ministry. He served two years at Seldom Come By and two years at Carbonear.

In 1904 Dean entered Mount Allison University to complete his theological studies. Ordained in 1907, he served for two years at Gaspé, Que. He then assumed the pulpit of St John's Church in Newcastle, where he proved himself to be both enthusiastic in his praise of what he approved and outspoken in his criticism of what he did not. He delivered a memorable sermon on 2 July 1911 on the evils of liquor, prostitution, and the evident willingness of the federal government to permit "scum" from southern Europe to immigrate to Canada. In his quieter moments he was a verse and hymn writer, some of whose work was published in the daily press and the United Church Observer.

When Dean left the Miramichi in 1912 he went to Advocate Harbour, N.S. He spent thirty-three years in all as a Methodist and United Church minister in the Atlantic region before retiring to the United States in 1940. He lived for short periods in several states, settling in Daytona Beach around 1954.