SPRING VALLEY, CA (September 17, 2014) — Retired Covenant pastor and missionary Dean Erickson, 89, died Monday morning. Memorial services at Mount Miguel Covenant Village will be at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 27 in the Bailey Center.
Dean was born March 29, 1925, in Everett, Washington. He married Donna Olson on June 11, 1954.
He graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a bachelor of arts degree in 1949 and from North Park Theological Seminary with a degree in theology in 1954.
The Ericksons were called for missionary service at the 1954 Covenant Annual Meeting and served as missionaries to Ecuador for three terms beginning in 1955. From 1964 to 1968, Dean served as general director of education for the Ecuadorian Covenant Church.
In 1969, the Ericksons began evangelism work in Medellín, Colombia, before leaving World Mission in 1979. Dean subsequently pastored First Covenant Church of Los Angeles, and Iglesia Del Pacto in Eagle Rock, California.
Dean was wounded while serving with the U.S. Army in WW II. After leaving the Army, he took an aptitude test at the University of Washington, hoping to use the GI Bill to pay for his education and teach math. But the counselor told him that math turned out to be his lowest score, and it would be difficult to get the veteran into a program. On the other hand, he had scored high on becoming a missionary, preacher, or social worker.
“The Lord was collecting on the vow I had made to him when I was lying wounded on the battlefield in Italy,” Dean wrote later. “He had promised to get me home alive if I would follow him. I did, and he did.”
Survivors include his wife and daughter, Deanna Alarcon.
