The delightful Eyvonne "Cookie" Dean, musician, drag car racer, Sweet Adeline, animal lover, NASCAR fan, and fine jewelry saleswoman, left us too soon on Sunday, December 18, 2022.  She died at Quail Creek nursing home after a short illness. She was 82.

Eyvonne was born in Washington state to Cline and Edith Russell. She was an only child and enjoyed lots of attention from her parents. The family lived in Washington state for several years where Cline was a welder in the shipyards (there was a lot of work in the shipyards during World War II). The family made many trips back to Gainesville, Missouri where the rest of the extended family lived. Eyvonne remembered long car rides and train rides back to Missouri to visit family. She told a story about one occasion when the train cars were so crowded with soldiers sleeping on the floor that her father carried her on his back, crawling along the tops of the seats so she could get to the bathroom. She had many cousins back in Missouri with whom she loved spending time. Sometimes she was overwhelmed as a single child when she had to share her precious dolls with her cousins.

Eyvonne was an excellent musician. She started piano lessons very young and had her first recital when she was 6 years old. She played at churches, school plays, parties and just about anywhere there was a piano. She taught her daughter and grandson how to play at home on her beloved piano that her father bought her.

She was a good seamstress; she made her own doll clothes, fashionable clothes for herself during her teen years (including poodle skirts) and clothes for her young children.

Eyvonne attended schools in Republic, Missouri. She became the high school queen there, even though she was still in 8 ^th grade, apparently upsetting the older girls. Her high school king was Larry Morgan who remained a lifelong friend.

Bob and Eyvonne met in 1955 on Eyvonne's junior high graduation outing to Doling Park (she attended Republic junior high), which included her science teacher, Mrs. Ruby Dean, who happened to be Bob's mother. Bob went along, most likely wanting to meet pretty young women. During the outing, Bob and Eyvonne took a boat ride on Doling Lake, and Bob saved a struggling swimmer from drowning. Before he jumped in the water, he asked Eyvonne to hold his watch (she was impressed both by him and the green crystal on the watch). Later that afternoon they had their first kiss in the cave. It had to be the best first date of all time.

Bob quit high school and started working for Caterpillar in Joliet, Illinois. He missed Eyvonne, came back to Missouri and asked her to marry him. Eyvonne and Bob eloped on February 2, 1957 and got married in Miami, Oklahoma. The newly married couple returned to Joliet. They lived in an upstairs apartment over the mayor's house. At some point they didn't have electricity, so they kept their cold foods on the window ledge. Cookie remembered a bottle of milk crashing to the ground from the upstairs window. They returned to Missouri before baby Greg was born.

Eyvonne became known as Cookie after Bob gave her the nickname based on the character Cookie Bumstead, the daughter of Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead from the comic strip Blondie. The nickname stuck and was especially popular with children and fun-loving adults.

Money was scarce in their early years. Cookie remembered keeping house with small children with the radio to keep her company. They had meat once a week and enjoyed one beer on the weekends, but they were happy to have one another, their two new babies and their extended families.

Later Cookie joined JCPenney when Battlefield Mall opened in Springfield in 1970. She worked in the fine jewelry department where she earned commissions on her sales, which could be substantial at Christmas. She would come home exhausted on Christmas Eve after selling beautiful jewelry to desperate, procrastinating husbands. Those paychecks were well appreciated. Later she worked at Sam's where she also sold high-end jewelry and was visited by many friends and family who came to shop there. She remained very adept at repairing watches, jewelry, lamps, etc., throughout her life.

In the 1970s Cookie joined the Sweet Adelines (the Ozark Showcase Chorus), an a cappella barbershop style singing group. Cookie sang lead with the Adelines for over thirty years. They had yearly performances in Springfield and competitions in region 25 (parts of Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas). The Adelines were a sisterhood, with enduring friendships formed during their many rehearsals, singing in close harmony, traveling together on long bus trips, going to competitions, sharing hotel rooms (with many shenanigans) and lots of laughter.

Her best friend Ginny Heinrichs also worked at JCPenney and was an Adeline. Cookie and Ginny were very close; in addition to working and singing together, they also went shopping, camping, traveling and birdwatching together.

All the while Cookie remained a dedicated mother, driving Kim and Greg to school, Camp Fire Girls, Boy Scouts, Little League, and their first part time jobs before they were sixteen.

Cookie and Bob grew up in a car loving culture. They always had a nice ride with a big engine. In the days before seat belt child seats, Greg would stand up on the back floorboard of a '62 Impala 409 and tell his mom to hit it, which she did, causing all to laugh. Later, when they could afford it, they had fast cars and trucks suitable for drag racing. Cookie remembered drag racing in a '75 Chevy Shortbed 454 truck and a '78 Trans Am with the family dog Jake beside her. The announcer would say, "Here comes Cookie and Jake to the starting line." She said she would start accelerating off the line and Jake would just calmly look down the drag strip.

Cookie and Bob also enjoyed traveling. They started taking vacations when they were a young couple with young children. The notion of a vacation was new to Bob, but Cookie had traveled a lot in her youth, so she encouraged the idea and did the homework. Their favorite trips were going out west following their AAA triptiks. The kids, Greg and Kim, (mostly) cooperated from the backseat of the Corvair, or later in pickup trucks with campers. Eventually Bob and Cookie graduated to an Airstream motorhome which they took to many NASCAR races. Bob and Cookie also took cross-country motorcycle trips with other couples.

Cookie spent many happy times playing bingo and traveling out of state to gamble with her good friend Janet Allen. Her last bingo and gambling adventures with Janet and Kim happened this past November. Sometimes she came home a winner, sometimes she made donations to the charities or tribes that ran the bingo parlors and casinos. But she didn't mind; she always had fun.

Bob passed away in 2020 after 63 years of marriage. Cookie is survived by her two children and their spouses: Greg (wife Belinda) and Kim (husband Rajiv); her "adopted" son Damon (wife Dianne); three grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

Cookie loved her pets (most recently Maxwell and Muffin) and all animals. If you wish to make a memorial contribution, please donate to Rescue One in Springfield, MO.

The family is planning a celebration of life in the spring in Springfield, please stay tuned.