Odie Dean

Charles Fred “Odie” Dean passed from this journey to the next on October 28, 2025. He passed peacefully, in the home he built for his wife and family in Kaufman, Tx, surrounded by his family and loved ones, while songs of love, life, rodeos, and outlaws played in the background. Odie was born May 17, 1934 in Thackerville, Oklahoma to Emma C. Liddell Dean and Horace Fred Dean. Odie was a proud member of the Chickasaw Nation and was often quick to share stories of his family’s history, tales of strength and resilience, of ingenuity and survival that is the Chickasaw, and Liddell-Dean story. Odie’s life was the stuff of Larry McMurtry novels – legendary and heroic; steeped in the adventures of wild westerns mixed with accounts of industrialists who shaped cities and futures. After a youth spent rodeoing, Odie set his sights on shaping cities. For 50 years Odie worked in commercial construction throughout the South. His leadership oversaw the construction of landmark buildings in the DFW metroplex, including the Ballpark in Arlington. Odie was also an innovator in commercial construction, having developed new ways of using and pouring concrete. Even now, 25 years after his retirement, Odie’s work continues to leave an indelible mark having shaped the Dallas skyline in ways that remain today. Odie’s creativity wasn’t only for the large, and large scale. His creativity found its smaller and intricate avenues as well. He was a lifelong carpenter, master woodworker as well as an accomplished blacksmith. Odie knew what it was to take the hard stuff of earth and bend it to one’s will in ways that led to beauty, and art, and awe. Yet of all of the things that Odie left behind – the buildings, skylines, houses, woodworked masterpieces and hand forged knives – it was his family and friends that brought the most joy and of which he was most proud. His crowning jewel was the life he had with his stunning bride of 72 years, Kay Dean. Kay was the steady rock in his life and his safe harbor in life’s storms. Their life and love together served as a brilliant example of love, commitment, grace, and steadfastness. Kay and Odie had three children, Charles Fred Dean Jr., Dyonne Watson, and Linda Pinkston Harper. Odie was proud of his grandchildren and the ways they lived into the legacy and wisdom he instilled in them; Matthew & Lisa Watson, Luke Watson and Chel-sea Galloway, Sarah & Joel Nelson, Joseph Dean, Robert & Krista Pinkston, and Tori & Jordan Davis. Odie was also blessed by his 19 great grandchildren whose lives and living will carry and continue the legacy of Odie Dean beyond imagination. There is family you are born into and family that you choose and two men that count as chosen family are lifelong friend Steve Donica and chosen grandson Thomas King. He was preceded in death by his mother and father, as well as his son Charles Fred Dean, Jr., his son in law, H. Wayne Watson, and his sisters, Anne Marie Thomas and Dorothy Caroline Stofel. He is survived by his siblings Linda Briggs as well as Vernon Dean and his wife Janelle. For the last forty years, Odie and Kay lived in the College Mound community of Kaufman, Tx. It was from this corner of rural Texas where Odie carved out a home, a thriving workshop, and meaningful relationships with dear friends. Odie served as a twenty-year board member of the College Mound Volunteer Fire Department, and the host of regular, informal community ‘Council Meetings’; gatherings of friends and fellow outlaws where friendship, laughter, wisdom, and cold beer were shared without hesitation, reservation, or judgement. To honor this giant of a man, Odie’s Celebration of Life service will be Monday, November 3rd, 2025 at 11:00am at the College Mound United Methodist Church with a reception to follow. Beyond the service, Odie’s wish is for everyone to stand tall as skyscrapers, be strong as forged steel, be welcoming as a cold beer, and as unique as every piece of art ever made by Odie Dean. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations may be made to The College Mound United Methodist Church. https://secure.myvanco.com/YQ5P/home

Tributes

Odie Dean

October 28, 2025