Dean Green; Former Port Hueneme Councilman

Former Port Hueneme City Councilman Dean Green died Sunday after a long illness. He was 84.

Green sat on the Port Hueneme council for 12 years, from 1980 until he decided not to seek reelection in 1992 at age 78.

From 1957 until he retired in 1974, Green was superintendent of elementary schools in Port Hueneme.

Green was born March 4, 1914, in Rock Port, Mo. His family moved to California when he was young and Green graduated from Hoover High School in Glendale in 1932. He received a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Idaho in 1939.

He returned to California after graduation and the next year married Alma Heltibridle. Green served in the Navy from 1942 to 1945 as a harbor pilot in the South Pacific.

“Dean loved golf and music. He just loved life,” said Alma. “He was Port Hueneme’s Sophie Tucker.”

One of Green’s favorite past times was performing, in costume, as Tucker in the Port Hueneme Men’s Follies every year, she said.

Orvene Carpenter, a retired city councilman who served with Green, said his former colleague always looked out for the community. Green was the only smoker on the council, Carpenter said, but at the height of the campaign to eliminate smoking in all public buildings, Green was the first to suggest that the council chambers become smoke-free.

Green is survived by his wife and two children, Patricia Ann Tackett of Camarillo and Michael Dean Green of Somis. He is also survived by six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Services are pending.