Dean Lester Parry, 80, of East Helena, MT, died December 13, 2025, at home. His wife, Mavis, daughter Lorissa, and granddaughter Tara were with him.
Dean Parry was born May 6, 1945, to Lyle and Mildred (Wyngarden) Parry in Sioux Falls, SD. He graduated from Brandon High School, then joined the US Army and served overseas in Germany. When he returned home Dean worked for Sutherland Lumber Company. He married Mavis A Schoffelman on June 13, 1968, in Lennox, South Dakota.
After starting a family, Dean studied at South Dakota State University in Brookings and at University of Montana in Missoula, receiving a degree in forestry. He lived in Gresham, OR, and worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Portland, OR from 1978 until retiring in 2004. He felt great pride that, relatively early in his career, he was assigned to be in charge of a group who traveled to Mount St. Helens daily to study the blowdown of the trees after the 1980 eruption. In retirement, Dean and Mavis first moved to Helena, then Nampa, ID, for one year, then back to Helena where they lived until they were parted when he died.
Dean was a member of First Lutheran Church, Helena. Until he passed away, he and Mavis enjoyed frequent travel to see their children and grandchildren in Oregon. They also often drove to Yellowstone National Park, visited family and friends in South Dakota, and took multiple trips throughout the U.S. Dean loved reading, fishing, hunting, enjoying nature, and most recently driving his beautiful red truck.
He leaves to mourn his loss his wife Mavis, two daughters, Michelle Parry-Doran and her fiancé Jericho Wayne of Carlton, OR and her son Andrew of Corvallis, OR and Lorissa (Jim) Davies and their children Quinn and Tara of Newberg, OR. He also leaves a sister, Betty Parry Fisher (Randy) of Everett, WA.
Preceding Dean in death were his parents, Lyle Parry in 1993 and Mildred (Wyngarden) Parry in 1992, and his older brother William “Bill” Parry in 1971
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