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Dean Fletcher Ladusau © Enid News and Eagle 12-31-2021 Submitted by: Glenn
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Dean F. Ladusau
October 19, 1925 - December 29, 2021
A Celebration of Life for Dean Ladusau, 96-year-old Enid resident, will be 2:00 p.m. Monday, January 3, 2022, at Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home, with Pastors Glenn Dunn and Don Tines officiating. Burial with military honors provided by the United States Navy will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery, under the direction of Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home. A visitation with family will be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Sunday, January 2nd, in the Ladusau-Evans Chapel.
Dean Fletcher Ladusau was born to Harry and Ida Ladusau on October 19, 1925, in Garber, Oklahoma. The family lived in Garber until later moving to Enid, where Dean and twin brother, Don, attended Enid High School, where they played on the 1943 state championship basketball team, graduating in 1943. The twins went on to the University of Oklahoma and played basketball there until leaving school to enlist in the U.S. Navy, serving together on the U.S.S. San Francisco until they were discharged in 1946. After returning home from WWII, Dean acquired a position at Henninger-Allen Funeral Home driving ambulances and washing hearses; and it was here that his love for the funeral business was born. After a year-long apprenticeship, Dean attended the Cincinnati School of Mortuary Sciences, graduated and became a licensed funeral director. He worked at Henninger-Allen for 23 years as a funeral director and ambulance driver. Eventually funeral home ambulance service was phased out due to regulations and requirements. He used to delight in telling many tales of his ambulance driving adventures from "back in the day."
Dean and Jackie Thomas were married in 1946, and together they had daughter Michele Renee. In 1959, Dean married Mary Lou Hawkins, and together they had daughters Denise and Kelly. After leaving employment at Henninger-Allen, Dean partnered with Jack Evans and in 1970 built and operated Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home, where he worked until the age of 88, when his health forced him to retire. Until his death, he had the distinction of being the oldest living funeral director in the state of Oklahoma. Dean and wife Mary Lou worked together at the funeral home until her death in January of 2000. He loved every aspect of the funeral business, but especially enjoyed helping people through their most difficult time, and he never knew a stranger.
In 1995, he was appointed by Gov. David Walters to serve on the Oklahoma State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers. In 1999, at the age of 74, Dean was honored by members of the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association with an award pin for being active in the funeral business for 50 years. In 2007, at the age of 82, Dean was named as the 2007-2008 Oklahoma Funeral Director of the year, which was an award that he was extremely proud of.
Dean was preceded in death by his wife Mary Lou, whom he was married to for 40 years at the time of her death in 2000; parents Harry and Ida; sister Jaunita; twin brother Don and brother Bill; grandsons Jeffrey Myers and Alexander Covarrubias; his much-loved and very spoiled dogs, Penny, Misty, Brandy, Abby, and Lucky.
Dean is survived by his daughters, Michele Nightengale and her husband Leonard, Denise Covarrubias and her husband Hector, Kelly O'Rourke and her husband Brian; grandsons, Mike Myers and David Covarrubias; granddaughters, Stephanie Yeager and Jaime O'Rourke; great-grandchildren, Breanna Myers, Alexander and Camilla Yeager, and Ava O'Rourke; great-great-grandson, Landon Myers; nephews, Tim and Tom Ladusau; nieces, Lee Ann Beaty and Kris Ladusau; cousin, Ali Randell; and many great-nieces and nephews.
Dean's family would like to thank the staff at Brookdale Assisted Living Center for the wonderful care he received there. He loved all of you dearly. We would also like to thank our "brother from another mother," Tim Stacey, who was dad's great friend and companion for many years. We love you, Tim.
Since Dean was very fond of his dogs, we would like to ask that any memorials you would like to make in his memory be made to the Enid SPCA, FurEver Friends, or any local animal charity of your choosing, with Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home serving as custodian of the funds. Condolences may be made and services viewed online at www.ladusauevans.com.
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Addendum
Enid News and Eagle
1 January 2022
Family, friends remember Ladusau
By Kelci McKendrick
Enid News & Eagle
Kelly O'Rourke always wanted to be around her father, Dean Ladusau. Other than the times when O'Rourke was being ornery as a child and getting yelled at every once in a while, she said with a laugh, there was never anything that made her not want to spend time with Ladusau, who died on Dec. 29 at 96 years old.
From Ladusau attending O'Rourke's basketball and softball games to O'Rourke going fishing with him, she couldn't think of any bad memories with him. "I was his pride and joy, and he was mine," she said. "I just loved doing stuff with him."
Ladusau was born on Oct. 19, 1925, in Garber. His family later moved to Enid, where Ladusau and his twin brother Don attended Enid High School and played on the 1943 state championship basketball team, graduating that same year. The brothers went on to the University of Oklahoma before enlisting in the Navy in 1944, serving together aboard the U.S.S. San Francisco in World War II.
In 1946, after returning home, Ladusau married Jackie Thomas and had his first daughter, Michele Nightengale, and in 1959, he and Mary Lou Hawkins got married and had Denise Covarrubias and O'Rourke. Nightengale said one of the first things Ladasau taught all three of the girls was how to fish, and she remembered that she drank her first cup of coffee with her father. "Dad was a lot of fun, and he never missed a beat," Nightengale said. "He was a great dad. ... He taught us how to be strong women."
After WWII, Ladusau began working at Henninger-Allen Funeral Home, where he worked for 23 years as a funeral director and ambulance driver. He attended a mortuary school in Cincinnati and became a licensed funeral director. In 1970, Ladusau, along with Jack Evans, built and operated Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home, where Ladusau worked until his health forced him to retire at 88 years old.
As a kid, Covarrubias said everyone always knew who she was because of her last name, with her mother, who died in 2000, joking that everybody knew the Ladusaus. "In other words, 'Don't try anything because it will get back to us,'" Covarrubias said with a laugh. "If we went out to eat anywhere, by the time we sat down, he had already talked to everyone throughout the whole restaurant because he knew everybody in town."
Nightengale also recalled this, saying Ladasau "never met a stranger." "He'd give anybody the shirt off of his back if they needed it," Nightengale said.
All of Ladasau's daughters said because both Dean and their mom worked in the funeral home business, the family didn't go on a lot of vacations because Ladusau was building up his business and was always concerned that a family in the Enid area might need him. "But that wasn't a big deal or anything. We never felt like we were missing out on anything," Covarrubias said, adding her father was a "larger than life" and wonderful man. "A great work ethic was instilled in all of us," O'Rourke said.
Until his death, Ladusau had the distinction of being the oldest living funeral director in Oklahoma. In 1995, Ladusau was appointed by then-Gov. David Walters to serve on the Oklahoma State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers. In 1999, Ladusau was honored by members of the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association for being active in the funeral business for 50 years, and in 2007, he was named as the 20072008 Oklahoma Funeral Director of the Year, an award "he was extremely proud of."
Tim Stacey worked at Ladusau-Evans from 2011 to 2017 and said Ladusau was fun to work for as he had a terrific sense of humor and always acted professionally. Stacey and Ladusau's relationship evolved over the years from "employee and employer" to good friends, with Stacey often taking Ladusau out to eat a few times a week or watching TV together in Ladusau's Brookdale Enid home. "It was an honor to work for him, ... and a tremendous friendship came out of it," Stacey said.
Stacey added that Ladusau always "went the extra mile" to make sure everything ran smoothly and was perfect for families at Ladusau-Evans. O'Rourke said she hopes Ladusau will be remembered as a kind and compassionate man who helped a lot of people through their most difficult times.
"If he would've had it his way, he would've worked (at Ladusau-Evans) until the day he died," O'Rourke said. "The funeral home was his life. He worked so hard to make it the best business he could, and I'm so proud he did that. "I'm proud that everybody loved him, and I'm proud to be his daughter."
A Celebration of Life service will be 2 p.m. Monday at Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home. Visitation with the family will be 5-7 p.m. Sunday in the Ladusau-Evans Chapel.
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