William Dean Barnum

William Dean Barnum, 91, of Clyde, Kansas died on December 8, 2024 at the Clay County Medical Center in Clay Center, Kansas.  He was born on September 11, 1933 in Hutchinson, Kansas, the son of W.M. “Mike” and Thelma (Banz) Barnum.  Dean graduated from Hutchinson High School where he played linebacker on the Salt Hawk football team and ran a leg of the mile relay in track.  He also played linebacker for the Hutch JUCO Blue Dragons.  Dean transferred to the University of Kansas and graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

He taught surveying at the Engineer’s School in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia and was a licensed professional engineer in Kansas and Oklahoma.  He was also a licensed professional engineer and land surveyor in Colorado.  He was the past president of the Southwest Chapter of the Kansas Engineering Society.

Dean worked for Wilson and Company Consulting Engineers and Architects and opened an office in Liberal, Kansas at the height of the oil and natural gas boom in that area.  He worked at business development in western Kansas and Western Oklahoma.  He led a crew which did the preconstruction survey of the hardened antenna sights atop Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, the location of the North American Air Defense Command.

Dean was City Manager of Liberal and owned and operated A-1 Ready Mix Concrete, Inc. there.  He was also Director of Facilities at Kansas State University-Salina.  After retirement, he drove a school bus and a courtesy shuttle for Briggs Motors in Lawrence, Kansas.

Dean married Sara Elizabeth “Sallie” Wyman, a fellow student at KU on August 30, 1958 in the First Presbyterian Church in Coffeyville, Kansas. She preceded him in death as did 2 daughters, Elizabeth Carris Barnum and Megan Brooks Yankee Boyd.

He is survived by his son, William Wyman Barnum and his wife, Austria of Clyde, Kansas and 3 grandchildren, Berolyn of Clyde, Kansas and Nathan W. and Justin C. Yankee both of Lawerence, Kansas.  Dean is also survived by his second wife, Anita L. Barnum of Moore, Oklahoma, they were later divorced.

There will be no visitation and private family memorial services will be scheduled for a later date.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society or the American Heart Association and can be sent in care of the Neill-Schwensen-Rook Funeral Home.