HEIPLE – Dean Hoffman, 85, Jennerstown, passed on peacefully at UPMC Mercy CCU Thursday, May, 14, 2015, after a long battle with the complications of diabetes and pneumonia. His daughters, Melissa Ruth Heiple and Margi Heiple Stephens, were in attendance. He is now reunited with wife, Beatrice Isabelle (Gilbert), who went before him in 1997. Dean was the second child of Elson Miller Heiple and Vida Hoffman, with two brothers predeceasing him, Robert and Ray. His second daughter, Patricia Gayle, passed on before him in 2010. Also survived by brothers, Blair and Tom; sister, Judy Lambert; sisters-in-law, Arlene, Lois and Marcia; son-in-law, Joe Stephens, and grandchild, Daniel Dean Stephens. Dean worked on his grandfather’s farm throughout high school and joined the Navy upon graduation, where he trained in electronics. He saw action in the Korean War while serving as a radar technician. Returning home with an honorable discharge and minus his appendix (and that was a story!), he married Isabelle Gilbert and lived in Homestead until the birth of his first child, Margie Beth. The family moved to Jennerstown in 1957, where he opened Heiple Radio and TV Repair after the Homestead mills closed down. He specialized in CB radios and was known as “The Doctor” to the trucking community. Dean went on to work for many local businesses. After retiring from the maintenance department at Snyder’s Potato Chips in Berlin, he continued to do electrical work throughout the area and was known as a skilled and reliable electrician until diabetic neuropathy robbed him of his mobility. He was sharp as a tack and aware of his surroundings until the end, even as his body crumbled around him. He loved to tell jokes and stories about his Navy days, among other things. He was especially proud that he’d sailed through all four canals of the world, even the one up at Cape Cod that no one knows about (can you name all four?) and stood on deck while his ship shelled the cliffs of Korea, throwing out all the ordinance they had including the signal flares. Dean led a long and rich life until poor health literally stopped him in his tracks. He will be missed. Friends received from 10AM until time of service 11AM Saturday, August 29 at Hoffman Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Boswell with Rev. Wilma Horner presiding. Interment, Jenner Crossroads Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations in Dean’s memory may be sent to Somerset County Blind Center, 748 S. Center St., Somerset, Pa. 15501. To express condolences, make a donation or light a candle, please visit HoffmanFuneralHomes.com.

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