W Dean Stoner
August 3rd, 1961 – April 12th, 2025
W. Dean Stoner passed away at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis on April 12th, 2025 at the age of 63. He was born in Kewanee, Illinois on August 3rd, 1961.
Dean is predeceased by his son, Ryan and his father, Ronald. He is survived by his loving wife of 16 years, Tina.
Dean will be lovingly remembered by his daughters, Melody (Leon) Davis of Columbia, CT, Barbara Stoner of Columbia, CT and his bonus children Jamie Edwards of Galesburg, Illinois; Leon Morris of Kewanee, Illinois; Stephen (Casey) Morris of Kewanee IL; & Matthew (Alicia) Morris of Abingdon, IL. His grandchildren: Haylee, Abby, Kryssalyn, Alexander, Colton, Kaitlyn, Kylee, Kyler, Ayden, Alexanderea, Amelia, Nattie and Jessa. His siblings: Dawn (Danny) Ownbey of Virginia; Eula Collins of Virginia; Inez (Stephen) Collins of Galesburg, IL; Colleen (David) Glasser of Las Vegas, NV; Vandelina (Dave) Castaldo of Beaumond, CA; Lynn (Tamara) Stoner of Kewanee, IL; Brother Steve (Tracy) Stoner of Kewanee, IL; bonus mother Barbara Stoner of Geneseo, IL; mother Kathleen Scheff; bonus father Lyle Scheff of Banning, CA; and special Aunt, Carol Buell of Kewanee, IL.
Dean graduated high school and attended Penn Tech trade school later to pursue his interest in emergency radio equipment and amateur radio. He enjoyed the field so much, he expanded his knowledge to building and climbing cell towers for all the major cell service providers. He realized early on, he had no fear of heights; if asked today, he would say tall tower work was his most favorite career through his life. As health problems ensued, and he could no longer climb, he stayed with the industry, but moved to a more “grounded” job of learning HVAC work for the tower site buildings. Dean was very active in the Amateur radio hobby. His call sign KB1FUA was known around the world. Dean enjoyed volunteering for Special Olympics and he was very proud of being apart of setting up portable radios and antennas to help with communications on site after the 9/11 attack. He most enjoyed spending any time he could with his wife, kids, grandkids & his beloved pets. He loved fishing, going for rides on his golf cart, and not having to punch a time clock anymore.
Service Details:
No service is planned at this time. There will be a celebration of life at a later date.
RIP Dean. You will be missed by all who were graced by your presence, except for those few individuals from your younger years that we no longer discuss; LOL. I truly cherished our 35 year relationship and to be apart of your circle and family. Without Vandelina and your family, I would have no family at all. For those 35+ years you were always supportive and never criticized me for many of my poor Dad jokes and Mr. Inappropriate comments. You weren’t dealt the best cards in your life, but Damn, you played a great game. The best accolade for any man would to be called a family man, and you indeed earned the title of “Family Man”. I will miss you my brother.
As a ham radio operator, if there ever was a ham I “might” think would contact me from the after life, it would be Dean.
Rest easy my friend. We’ll take it from here.
Im going to miss my brother Dean so much 😢 I will always keep you in my heart rest up Dean
Rest in peace, Uncle Dean. I wish I got to see you way more often than I was able to, but even the few occasions I was able to be around you were really special to me and I believe anyone else would say the exact same. Forever in so many of our hearts.
I’m going to miss you so much, you were the best brother ever.
Thanks Dean for the great summer in 2016. You made that transfer to Illinois and Wisconsin one of my most memorable times ever, I’ll never forget it or you. Sure gonna miss our qso’s on Tuesday night. Rest easy my dearest friend and brother. Peace and love. AB5VK