WESTFIELD – Most people start to slow down and lose steam a little after they turn 80.
Rev. John T. Dean, the dynamic former Roman Catholic Chaplain of Westfield State University, isn’t most people.
For more than three decades, ‘Father Dean’, who celebrated the big 8-0 earlier this month, commuted from his hometown of Holyoke to celebrate Mass on Sundays and holy days and provide spiritual guidance for students, who he says were the best part of his time as chaplain.
“It’s the students. I loved visiting them, helping any way I could. It was real rewarding,” he said. “Over the years I’ve done so many weddings (of former students). I’ve kept a list – it’s like five or six pages – with names and dates. I’ll check the alumni directory and call them when it is their anniversary.”
While Dean formally retired as chaplain several years ago, he felt the call to return to WSU soon thereafter and has remained at the institution until this year, when the Diocese of Springfield filled the position that Dean had more or less volunteered for since his retirement.
Despite no longer being the school’s official chaplain, Dean still frequents the campus to check his mail and eat lunch in the campus dining hall that bears his name.
He hopes to remain close to the school that he served for so long and said he’s always available to provide advice, guidance and support to students in need, past and present.
“I loved it, still love the place and always will,” he said. “It’s a very special place in my heart and my mind.”
Dean’s impact was never limited to just catholic students though, as a “yo!” from the bald priest brightened the days of students – “dudes” and “dude-ettes” in Dean’s unique vernacular – of all faiths and creeds during his tenure at the institution.
A product of the Holyoke public school system, Dean graduated from Boston College with degrees in philosophy and history, as well as a master of education, and returned to Holyoke where he followed in the footsteps of his father, a longtime teacher in the city of Holyoke, whose vocational school was named the William J. Dean Technical High School in his honor.
After several years of teaching in neighboring South Hadley, Dean became head of the history department at Holyoke High School, but soon found himself being pulled toward a higher calling.
“I loved it and taught for I forgot how many years, but I read articles about John XXIII seminary for delayed vocations. So I thought I’d try that,” he said with a chuckle. “All my friends said ‘You’re the head of the department, you make more than we do! You’re crazy!’ But I told them I’m not doing it for the money.”
Following his graduation from the Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston in the late 70s, Dean was assigned parishes in South Hadley and Springfield, eventually becoming chaplain at then-Western New England College.
It wasn’t until the early 80s when Dean arrived as the first Catholic chaplain at Westfield State College and while the college as since become a university, Dean remained a pillar of consistency at the school.
“Nobody could put a smile on your face like Father Dean,” said Mark Brothers, a 2014 graduate from Burlington. “No matter how good or bad my day was, if I saw him in the DC (dining commons) I would always go over and say hello because I knew that one of his jokes would make me laugh or put a smile on my face.”
“Whether he was telling a riddle at the end of Sunday Mass or offering a seat in the dining hall, he has always been a friendly guy,” said 2013 graduate Lindsey Howe of Chelmsford, who added that Dean would visit the rooms of parishioners with care packages. “He would stop by to present little ‘pick me up’ snacks around finals time. It seems small, but I will always remember picking a can of pringles from the bag and feeling relieved during a stressful week.”
“Father Dean was always there to brighten up my day at Westfield,” recalled Robert Blouin, a 2010 graduate from Fairhaven. “I never met a man who cared as much about college kids as him. Between his awesome jokes and his generosity, he is the face of Westfield State, in my opinion.”
Whether he was frequenting Owl athletic events, delivering pizzas to students or telling thousands of one-liners befitting a nightclub act, Dean earned the love and admiration of not just Westfield State students, but the institution’s administration and faculty, who honored him by christening the school’s dining hall the Father John Dean Dining Hall in 2008.
Michael Knapik, executive director of university advancement at the Westfield State Foundation, served as an altar boy for Dean when he was assigned in residence at St. Peter’s in Westfield and said that the Foundation has plans to honor him.
“We’re trying to find a way to honor Father Dean at our Interfaith Breakfast next spring for his decades of service to the university,” said Knapik. “As we commit ourselves to the next period of time at the Foundation to our 35th anniversary, we remember that we were founded largely around the creation of the Interfaith Center. I think it was 1982 when the (AlInterfaith) Chapel was built and that was around the time he came to Westfield.”
Knapik said that Dean set up a family scholarship at the Foundation and that he has made a “very personal commitment” to the school.
“He has had a tremendous impact on the university and the Foundation,” said Knapik.
“Father John Dean has been a presence on the Westfield State campus for over three decades, where he built a strong rapport with our students,” said interim WSU President Dr. Elizabeth Preston. “He was a fixture at meals, talking and connecting with students in the dining commons, a place that came to be so firmly associated with him that the university dedicated the Fr. John Dean Dining Hall in his honor at his retirement.”
“We are indebted to him for his continued commitment to the university since that time,” Preston said.
