Dean Earl Lufkin

Dean E. Lufkin, 86, passed into his heavenly home on January 3rd, 2015, peacefully, in the company of his family at his residence in Phoenix, Arizona. He was the first born son to Earl and Bertha Lufkin in Waterloo, Iowa, on November 22nd, 1928. The family moved to a farm near Cylinder, Iowa in 1939. At the young age of 9, Dean was stricken with scarlet fever that took the life of his younger sister (Phyllis), and while under the hopeful watch of a country doctor and the healing prayers of his faithful mother, he narrowly escaped death to lead a long and fruitful life. His hard work ethic was forged while attending a one-room school house which yielded to harvest season when he was called on for help by his father with the horse drawn farm implements in the surrounding corn fields. He graduated from Fenton High School in 1948 in a class of 13 students and went on to find his passions in carpentry and the building trades as well as in his high school sweetheart, Cora Ann Cody, from across the field in the nearby farming community of Cylinder, Iowa with whom he shared 65 amazing years of wedded bliss. They married on a cold November day in 1949 at the St. John’s Lutheran Church in Depew, Iowa, and rented a basement apartment in Waterloo where Dean worked construction jobs by day and on the John Deere Tractor Factory assembly line at night. Their first two children were born, Kathryn Jean (’50) and Robert Alan (’52), in Waterloo before they migrated to the warm desert climate of Phoenix, Arizona in 1955, where their family grew with sons, Charles Dean (’56) and Kenneth Earl (’61) and was more conducive to year around, steady, construction work. The following year, Dean passed his general contractors licensing exam and eventually formed Lufkin Construction Company which he successfully operated for 40 years with offices in Phoenix and Tucson. With an ultimate staff of more than 300 employees Lufkin Construction Co. performed work statewide and across the southwest with notable projects at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Good Samaritan Hospital, Northern Arizona University, Williams and Luke Air Force Bases and of particular importance to him was the completion of over 36 churches in the valley and across the southwest. In the late 1970’s he became a large scale commercial farmer/rancher with 60,000 turkeys to feed and agricultural interests in Arizona, New Mexico, and Iowa including the family farm where he grew up. Dean was an active member of the Phoenix business, civic and church community and served with memberships, council posts and executive board positions at the Association of General Contractors, Metal Builders Association of Arizona and the Wilson School District Governing Board. He was past president of the Phoenix Breakfast Lions Club and, after retirement, a member of the Heber / Overgaard Lions Club where he and Cora enjoyed the summer months with children and grandchildren at their cabin in Forest Lakes, AZ. He consistently displayed his commitment to volunteer service in his National Advisory Board positions and 40 years of faithful giving as a charter member of the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission Board in Rock Point, Arizona, where he annually donated time and transportation costs to provide needed supplies to the Native American mission in Northeastern Arizona. He maintained active membership and committee positions at American Ev. Lutheran Church, Shepard of the Valley Lutheran Church, and Love of Christ Lutheran Church in Mesa as they moved their home and was awarded the Lutheran Brotherhood ‘Man of the Year’ Award for his philanthropic work. Dean became active with the Men’s Prayer Breakfast and services at Living Streams Church in Phoenix along with his son’s and family after moving to the Beatitudes Senior Living facility with his wife in 2012. He was a charter director for the New Magma Irrigation and Drainage District Board and the ED6 Electric District Board in Queen Creek, AZ. Additionally, he was a life member of Arizona No. 2 and Thunderbird/Chandler Masonic Lodge No. 15, Past Captain of the El Zaribah Shrine Mounted Patrol Unit, and the Royal Order of Jesters, Court 17. He loved the outdoors, bear and mountain lion hunting, horseback riding and was past president of the White Mountain Range Riders Association in Springerville, AZ. He was a licensed aviation pilot, world traveler who enjoyed many cruises including China, Norway, Finland and the Holy Land and was awarded an honorary ship captains certificate while navigating through the Panama Canal. Dean’s kindness, love and generosity is a testament to his faith and will be greatly missed by all who were blessed to know him. He temporarily leaves his abundantly grateful family with cheerful hearts secure in the knowledge of his eternal life with Jesus Christ, The Father and The Holy Spirit. In addition to his wife Cora, four children, Kathy (Ron), Bob, Chuck (Renee) and Ken (Helen), Dean is survived by his brother, John Lufkin (Veronica), from Mustang, OK and sisters, Audrey Horsman, Florence, AZ, Patricia Jensvold (Bruce), Phoenix, AZ, and Joanne Campbell, Sun City, AZ as well as 15 loving grandchildren and 31 great grandchildren. Memorial Service will be held 2:00 PM, Friday, January 9, 2015 at Love of Christ Church, located at 1525 N. Power Rd. Mesa, AZ 85205. In Lieu of flowers donations may be made to Love of Christ Church or Hospice of the Valley (1510 E. Flower St. Phoenix, AZ 85014).