ALLAN (Dixie) DEAN
20/09/44 - 27/07/08
Crossed the bar at around 17:45 on Sunday 27th July 2008.
Dixie was a Ganges boy and after training as a sparker his first ship was HMS Puma. On leaving the Puma he was then drafted out to the Far East and served a couple of months with George Davidson in Kuching, Sarawak. Both later served together on the Daring.
After finishing his "dozen" in the Royal Navy he then eventually worked in logistics for the United Nations and served in several hot-spots in the Middle East.
After his retirement Dixie returned to the UK with his wife and children and settled in Belgrave near his relatives. He said that if you drew a 30 mile circle centred on his house it would cover all the homes of his whole family for several generations
Dixie first came to our Daring reunion back in July 2002, and with his larger than life personality he acted as Master of Ceremonies for the first reunions. He also took on the role of presenting the "Daring Plaques" with great enthusiasm. These plaques he had had made in the Lebanon, whilst still working for the United Nations. He attended several reunions with Naima, his wife, taking leave from the Middle East to coincide with our reunion, demonstrating his commitment to the Daring Association.
He had a fund of stories (many of which were unprintable), jokes and opinions that had us all laughing well into the small hours at our annual gatherings. Ill-health then stopped Dixie attending several reunions, though fortunately he was well enough to attend the eighth reunion on 12th July 2008 and acted as Toast Master, later in the evening he once again was holding forth on "life, the universe and everything".
Dixie was a good shipmate and will always be remembered for his subtle/dry sense of humour, comradeship and supporting the underdog. He was also excellent at spinning yarns and reminded me very much of the late and great Peter Ustinov. He will be sadly missed from all his shipmates. |
