MORTON - Dean R. Grimm, 71, of Morton passed away at 4:57 a.m. Wednesday, June 17, 2015, at his home, surrounded by his family. He valiantly fought cancer for 19 months.He was born Nov. 23, 1943, in Peoria to William Jr. and Eula (Yoder) Grimm. He married Sara F. (Parker) Haferkamp on Jan. 15, 1971, in Morton. Surviving are his wife, Sara F. Grimm of Morton; his children, Cristi (Doug) Schaffnit of Morton, Cesli (Gino) Vaccaro of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and William Derek (Jenna) Grimm of Morton; eight grandchildren, Katie (Paul) Velting, Lindsay Mathers, Kelly Schaffnit, Ryan Schaffnit, Isaiah Vaccaro, Rachel Vaccaro, Myah Grimm and Zach Grimm; and one sister, Diane Grimm of Morton.He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, Jack of Fort Worth, Texas, and Ronald of Norwalk, Conn., both within the last year. Dean grew up in Morton when it was "just a village" and populated by a lot of Grimms. He graduated from Morton High School and attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. He took "time off" after college, traveled and then worked in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as a chauffeur.He returned to Morton and proudly served with the United States Army Reserves during the Vietnam War. Dean began working in the family business, Grimm TV & Appliance. He eventually purchased the business from his father and owned, operated and managed stores in Morton, Washington, Bloomington and Peoria. During those years in business, he was blessed with opportunities to travel around the world with General Electric, RCA, Zenith, Fisher-Paykel and other companies. After qualifying and being accepted into Marta Buying Group of U.S. Appliance Dealers, he was able to pass on great savings to his customers. He later became vice president of that board and served on it until his retirement from the Grimm Appliance business, which existed for 78 years. He retired in 2000 at the age of 56 and began a career in realty and property development until his death.After family, his work and service to the community and area was vitally important. He was concerned about conservative yet progressive and wise growth, wise financial decisions and historical recognition and preservation of Morton and Tazewell County. He served the community first by being a Morton volunteer firefighter for many years. Appointed by the village board, he served on the Morton Planning Commission for a long period of time. He was active in Rotary for years and also the Morton Chamber of Commerce. He served three terms as chamber president. During that time, the two-lane Illinois Route 121 was being rebuilt into a new four-lane highway and converted into Interstate 155. He fought fiercely for three exchanges for Morton. When IDOT decided on just two, he took a select committee to the Governor's office and from a "drawing on a napkin," the third exchange was soon then approved by IDOT in time for the road's completion. He considered that one of his greatest accomplishments.He later was asked to run for the Tazewell County Board. He served since being elected in 1996. His 19-year tenure was marked by negotiating land deals that were in the county's best interest and served the taxpayers of the county well. It was noted that he brought his business expertise and perspective to help others to understand needs and direction that were for the greatest good for ALL, not just one political party. His skill in interviewing and hiring the best person for a job were also noted. He was not the first person to speak, but when he spoke, people usually were ready to listen and hammer out a profitable decision for Tazewell County. He served as chairman of the board's Property Committee for a long time and conducted his last meeting only within weeks of his passing. In spite of his serious illness and physical restrictions, he took his duties seriously. He consistently contributed to the work of the UCCI organization for Illinois county board members. Until recently, he served on the Tri-County Planning Commission, last serving as vice chairman.For more than 40 years, Dean and his wife have been members of the Young Life Committee Board for Central Illinois Young Life. They served with other couples from the community representing each high school that has a "club" in their school. He served as chairman several times. He helped develop permanent fundraising activities such as golf tournaments, skeet tournaments and annual banquets that reached out to Peoria-area adults to acquaint with them the Young Life mission. These also kept the financial health stable to meet area needs for staff and so forth. He had developed interest-bearing camp scholarship funds to send teens to various Young Life camps in the United States. In his tenure, he helped when the Peoria area was chosen by National Young Life to start "Wild-Life" for junior high teens. After the Peoria area's successful modeling, these junior high clubs are now in most regions in the United States. He served on two regional Young Life committee boards, one being Illinois/Indiana and the other being Illinois/Wisconsin/Iowa. He served as chairman in each of these regions during that assignment. He has mentored many teenagers through his devotion to this Christian teen mission organization. He was a member of Grace Church in Morton for more than 40 years and served on various church committees and worked with Boys Brigade in recent years.He was an outdoorsman who enjoyed his land, wildlife, horses, hunting, fishing with his grandchildren, attending all of his grandkids' events . . . and, of course, BASKETBALL. Repairing things and taking his kids, grandkids and friends to "Lennie's" on Saturdays, "Suzies" and Morton's "Carius DQ" were special to him. Business in Peoria took him to "Juanita's" by the courthouse, and after county board meetings in Pekin ended, "catching a bite" with his board buddies at Kouri's was also special to him. Dean's wife and family were his pride and joy! He did all he could to teach them to honor, love and serve the Lord, work hard, play hard, love one another, enjoy simple things, have fun along the way (especially at the family home in rural Morton or on planned family trips) and to be proud and grateful to be an American. He loved to be with his children, their mates and know and be with his grandchildren. Each of the nine touched him deeply.The family would like to thank all of the people who have fervently prayed, cared and supported the family. We want to extend gratitude to all of the staff and caregivers from Home Instead and Transition Hospice. Visitation will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 23, 2015, at Grace Church in Morton. Further visitation will be from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 24, at Grace Church in Morton, followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m., with Pastor Glyn Knight, Pastor Jonathan Farrell and former Young Life director Pastor Marv Kelso officiating. Burial will be in the Morton Apostolic Christian Church Cemetery.