Allen DeWitt Dees

Today we are celebrating the life and grieving the loss of our family's guiding light, Allen DeWitt Dees. A noted chemist, trapper, explorer, engineer, sage, storyteller, and friend, Allen lived independently in his home until he joined his beloved wife, Sadie, and his heavenly Father on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at the age of 99. As a boy, Allen was widely known in his home of Kaufman, Texas for blowing up his family's outhouse; selling pelts of animals he trapped to the Hudson Bay Fur Company; traveling King's Creek; driving troubled neighbors to the mental hospital or the county jail as necessary, and generally handling adult-sized matters with humor and grace. Had you lived in Kaufman during his childhood and adolescence, Allen would have touched your life somewhere along the way. Allen DeWitt Dees was born in Kemp, Texas on September 16, 1911 to Allan W. and Mary Alice "Polly" Dees. His family moved to Kaufman around 1920. Throughout his life, Allen faithfully attended and served the First Presbyterian Church of Kaufman, his cherished spiritual home. He graduated from Kaufman High School in 1928 at the age of 16 with a scholarship he earned by having highest grade point average in his class. He continued his academic pursuits at Texas A&M, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, then worked as an engineer for Humble Oil Company from 1933 to 1941. On July 10, 1936, he married the lovely Sadie Bell Sampsell of Denison, Texas. Sadie and Allen lived together in the Cajun country of southern Louisiana until he accepted his commission in the US Army Air Corp in March 1941. He served overseas in World War II as a Signal and Communications Officer and Chief of the Flying Training Branch. After the war, Allen returned to Kaufman to help his father in the family business and settled down with Sadie to raise their son Skipper and their daughters, Marilyn and Linda. In his "spare" time, he farmed two parcels of land near Kemp and worked a small herd of cattle. He lived the warmer half of the year in Kaufman in his home of 65 years, and spent the winters in Brownsville, Texas, where he fished and caroused with the friends he came to know over the 35+ years he spent there, many of which Sadie enjoyed with him, too. Throughout his 99 years, Allen was known to his friends and family as a superb fisherman, devout Presbyterian, talented chef and expert bartender, beloved friend and counselor, cultivator of incredible tomatoes, and historian beyond compare. He was an amazing man, an extraordinary father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and a great-great grandfather, too. Allen was preceded in death by Sadie on April 11, 1994, and by his son, Allan "Skip" Dees on May 10, 2009. He is survived by his daughters, Marilyn Elaine Denisco of Columbus, Ohio, and Linda Kay Roy of Shreveport, Louisiana, and their husbands Ralph Denisco and Rob Roy. Allen also has 12 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter, all of whom have been shaped by his love and spirit. Allen would appreciate donations to the Presbyterian Children's Services.