Regena M. Dean

Regena M. Dean was born to Allan and Edna (Churchill) Wintersteen on Saturday, May 8, 1943, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Regena was baptized at Broadway United Methodist Church in Council Bluffs and would later attend Sunday School and Church with her family at Trinity United Methodist Church in Council Bluffs.

Regena spent her formative years in Council Bluffs attending Avenue B Elementary School for kindergarten and 1st grade. After Allan and Edna purchased a new home in a different school district, Regena transferred to Dodge Elementary School for grades 2-6. Following elementary school, Regena attended Bloomer Junior High and eventually graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1961.

Graduation from high school allowed Regena to attend the Personnel Training Institute where she learned to work in the airline reservation industry and had the choice of living in Washington, D.C. or in New York City. Regena and her mother discussed this opportunity, and it was decided she would not accept the position due to her young age and the locations available at the time.

After this time, Regena held several different jobs and ultimately started post-secondary education and while doing so, began work at Mutual of Omaha. Regena followed her mother and brother, Allan, to Lincoln in January 1962 where Regena was quickly hired to work for Francis Robinson at the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. Regena’s good work ethic, positive attitude, and dedication to state government quickly landed her an offer to work for the Nebraska State Department of Education as a secretary for the Assistant Commissioner in Rehabilitation Services, Fred Novak. Until December 1965, Regena continued in this capacity, and it is during this time working for the state where Regena met Donald while both were working at the Nebraska State Capitol. On June 26, 1965, Donald and Regena were married at First Methodist Church in Lincoln.

Providing for her family and honoring the values instilled in her during her impressionable years mirrored her life as a wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and devoted friend. In her free time, she enjoyed spending time with Donald at family gatherings, attending her grandchildren’s school, music, and sporting events, traveling to Lake Okoboji, exploring restaurants, reading, genealogy, knitting, sewing, crocheting, and looking for treasures at secondhand stores and garage sales.

Regena Mae Dean, age 82, of Lincoln, Nebraska, passed away on Monday, June 16, 2025, in Lincoln, Nebraska, after battling ovarian cancer for just over 3 months. Regena is preceded in death by her husband Donald, parents Allan and Edna, brother, Richard Horrum and his wife, Theresia, brother-in-law Dennis Dean and his wife, Marcia, brother-in-law James Grasmick, and grandson, Colton Dean.

Regena is survived by her daughter Sydney Dean of Lincoln, Nebraska, sons Jason Dean and Tyler (Tonya) Dean, of Lincoln, Nebraska, brother Allan (Teddy) Wintersteen of Fort Collins, Colorado, and sister-in-law Carolyn Grasmick, of Fremont, Nebraska. Additional survivors include granddaughters Kaitlyn, Sarah, and Hannah Dean, of Lincoln, Nebraska, and grandsons, Jacob, Paden, Camden, and Porter Dean of Lincoln, Nebraska. There are also many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends left to cherish Regena’s memory.

A memorial service will be held Monday, June 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, 6800 S 14th St., Lincoln, NE 68512. Memorials are designated to The Bryan Foundation Hospice Unit, 1600 S. 48th St., Lincoln, NE 68506