Walter Dean Hart

Dean Hart, prominent attorney and lifelong Pauls Valley resident, died March 18, 2007 at Pauls Valley General Hospital. He was 90 years old. Dean was born in Pauls Valley on October 3, 1916 to Charlotte Blackwood and Walter Laurren Hart. He always called Pauls Valley home, though he spent most of his high-school and college years in Oklahoma City. After graduating Classen High School in 1934, he traveled far from home to attend Virginia Military Institute for one year. He came back to Norman, to the University of Oklahoma where, a proud member of Beta Theta Pi, he earned his BA in 1938 and his law degree in 1941. Dean passed the bar that same year, but put his law practice on hold for four years while he served in the U.S. Army. Dean was a true war hero. He served his country from July, 1941 until September, 1945. He attained the position of Company Commander of B Company–602 Tank Destroyer Batallion, in which he commanded 128 men in combat operations. He served as support on occasions for 18 different armored, airborne, cavalry and infantry divisions. In September 1944, he landed on Normandy Beach, and served 14 months in the European Theater of Operations in General Patton’s Third Army. Captain Hart participated in the first liberation of a Nazi concentration camp at Ohrdurf, Germany. In recognition of his heroism, two museums in Bastone, France display his photograph. He was awarded numerous medals: the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster, the Croix de Guerre with Silver Star from the French government (a rare honor among American servicemen), the American Defense Service Medal, and four Battle Stars. After the war he returned to Oklahoma, not only a hero but a husband. Immediately following his basic training, he and his fellow trainees had been assigned to harvest wheat in North Dakota, and there he had met the farmer’s daughter who would become his wife of almost 64 years, Lucille Grenier. They married in Thorne, North Dakota, on November 2, 1943. In 1945, reunited, they settled in Pauls Valley where they started a family (one son and five daughters were born over the next 18 years.) He practiced law until his retirement at age 73. His office was located in the building owned by his family’s business, Home Petroleum. His son became a partner in his firm and still practices law in that same building. Dean made volunteerism and community involvement a way of life. A longtime member of the Rotary Club, he served as his club’s president and was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow. He served for 10 years on the school board, was a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, served for many years as Garvin County Head of the Red Cross and Garvin County Chairman of the Democratic Party, was a Boy Scout cub master and served on the Boy Scout Board for Arbuckle Council. In addition, for over 60 years he was a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, and held the post of president of the Garvin County Bar Association. Walter Dean Hart is survived by his wife, Lucille; by six children—Dean Hart, Jr. and wife Joann of Pauls Valley, OK; Charlotte Hart of West Newton, MA; Anastasia Shirley and husband Doug of Watonga, OK; Lucinda Kennon and husband Philip of Oklahoma City, OK; Laura Howell and husband Anthony of Silver City, NM; and Simon Hart of Paris, France; by twelve grandchildren, and by six great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and by his brother, Jack Hart. A Celebration of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at the First United Methodist Church in Pauls Valley. It will be followed by interment at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

Walter Dean Hart

October 3, 1916 - March 18, 2007