A Funeral Service for Walter "Dean" Burnett of Flippin, Arkansas, will be 10:00 am, Wednesday, April 18, 2018, at Kirby & Family Funeral Home Chapel in Summit, AR with Heather Marsalis, Celebrant officiating. Visitation will be Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm, at Kirby & Family Funeral Home Chapel in Summit.
Dean passed away April 12, 2018, in Flippin, Arkansas at the age of 89. He was born August 26, 1928, in Burlingame, Kansas, the son of D. and Martha Parsons Burnett. He grew up in towns around Kansas as his father was a butcher for Piggly Wiggly grocery stores. Dean joined the United States Army at the outbreak of WWII at the age of 16 along with a buddy of his and served as an artilleryman stationed in Hawaii training for the invasion of Japan. He worked for the railroad for a few years as a lineman in the Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas after the war. Dean met his future wife Betty Teague when her parents sold his parents a resort in the Howard Creek area. They were married on Labor Day, 1954 in the Old Stone Chapel in Midway. He continued to serve his country by joining the Arkansas National Guard in 1960 and served until retirement. He organized their award winning sharpshooting team, which won the All-Army matches at Ft Benning, Ga two years in a row in the 1980’s. Dean was hired by the Corps of Engineers and spent most of his career there as a Park Technician then was promoted to Park Ranger on Bull Shoals lake. In 1997 he built their retirement home, a very unique log cabin on 120 acres near Yellville.
Dean is survived by his wife, Betty of Flippin, AR and sons, Michael (Dianne) Burnett of Purcell, OK and David Burnett of Fayetteville, AR.
He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters.
Burial will be in Baxter Memorial Gardens, Mountain Home, Arkansas.
Memorials may be made to the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars or Have a Heart Pet Shelter.
Arrangements are by Kirby and Family Funeral and Cremation Services.