Dean William Mitchell was

born September 1, 1934, in

Bismarck, North Dakota to

William and Fanny Mitchell. After a battle with cancer, he passed away at home

surrounded by his family on

November 8, 2023.

Dean grew up in Mott,

North Dakota and the family

moved to Pullman, Washington in 1947. Dean graduated

from Pullman High School in

1952. In high school he was

active in sports and other

activities. After high school

it was off across town to

WSC. He was a member of

Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity

and majored in speech while

working at the college radio

station.

During his senior year in

college he married his high

school sweetheart, Helen

Skinner. A summer job in

Boise after graduation led to

a job in Bellingham working at KVOS-TV. Their first

child, David, was born in

Bellingham. In 1957 they

moved to Kennewick, Washington, where their second

son, Douglas, was born.

After a brief company

move to Yakima where their

daughter Lisa was born, it

was back to the Tri-Cities to

manage KEPR radio, where

the call letters were later

switched to KONA AM/

FM. He and his KONA team

were the voice of local news

and the hydroplane races that

many Tri-Citians (and many

coast-to-coast) listened to annually. Dean was able to purchase the two radio stations

in 1978 and after 45 years of

radio work he sold the facilities and retired in 2002. He

and Helen were able to take

trips with friends and spend

a lot of time with family at

their cabin in Idaho.

Dean believed in being

an involved member of the

community and was active

in many Tri-City commu- nity groups. They included

the Tri-City Visitor Bureau,

Tri-City Chamber, TRIDEC,

The Reading Foundation,

CBC Foundation, Kennewick Housing Authority (he

was a Commissioner for 30

years), Banner Bank (he was

a Director) and the Kennewick Man of the Year organization.

He was named the Kennewick Man of the Year in

1980 and the Tri-Citian of

the Year in 1982. He was

an active member of Kennewick First United Methodist

Church, an avid golfer, and

WSU Cougar supporter.

Dean was predeceased by

his soulmate Helen in 2022

after 66 years of marriage, a

brother Curtis, and his parents. His remaining family

members include his children: David (Vali) Mitchell in Honolulu, Douglas

(Kathy) Mitchell and Lisa

(Bruce) Cutter, in Spokane.

He also leaves behind

his beloved grandchildren,

Ashley (Kyle) Olivier, Steven Cutter, Morgan (Joel)

Orchard, and McKenna and

Claire Mitchell. In addition,

he enjoyed precious time

with his great grandchildren,

Emma and Isaac Olivier and

Owen Dean Orchard.

A memorial service will

be held at Kennewick First

United Methodist Church,

where he was an active member for 62 years, on Saturday,

December 2, 2023, at 1:00

pm.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to either

the Tri-Cities Cancer Center

Foundation or the Boy's and

Girl's Club.