Ella Mae Dean

Ella Mae Dean, 82, of Peoria, passed away on Monday, January 2, 2023 at OSF Richard L. Owens Hospice Home in Peoria. She was born on January 9, 1940, a daughter of Charles E. and Marie F. (Linck) Rynearson. Ella Mae married Gerald Thompson in 1956. Later she married Paul Green in 1992, he preceded her in death in 1995. She married James E. Dean on February 2, 2008, who she had known for 70 years. He survives.

Ella Mae is also survived by her three children, Steve (Ruth) Thompson, Gary (fiance, Donna) Thompson and Vickie (Jim - deceased) Beller; four stepchildren, Jimmy Dean, Brian Dean, Donna Gilmore and Denise Gatchell; one sister, Margie (Gary) Crawford; eight grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her three brothers, Robert, Roland, and Wilbur Rynearson; four sisters, Eleanor Polashoff, Norma McKenzie, Betty Jennings and Wilma Ledford.

Ella Mae was a member of Bay View Baptist Church in Washington since 1967 and loved her church dearly. She worked for an insurance company and later Caterpillar.

She enjoyed sending birthday and greeting cards to friends, the sick and elderly. She inherited that from her mother who was deaf and contacted others the same way.

Her father passed when she was nine, her younger sisters were eight and six. She dearly loved her mother.

Ella Mae's funeral service will be at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 7, 2023 at Bay View Baptist Church. Pastor Brian Currier will officiate. Her visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. also on Saturday at the church. Burial will take place in Trivoli Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Bayview Baptist Teen Ministry, 22648 Grosenbach Road, Washington, IL 61571.