This one's for Dad: street dedicated to Dean Halverson in Beaman

Dean Halverson and his two sons, Brody and Zach, had big plans for Memorial Day weekend. They would head to Twin Acres Campground near Colo, grill out, toss a few back and enjoy each other’s company—like they always did—while celebrating freedom and, if they could squeeze it in, finding time to do some tinkering on the 1970 Monte Carlo they’d been working on together. But on May 24, it all came to a screeching halt in the most tragic manner possible.
           
At the age of 55, Halverson, who lived just a few blocks from the Mid-Iowa Cooperative feed mill he’d worked at for 29 years, suffered a massive heart attack similar to the one that claimed his father while walking home and died almost instantly.
           
“He and I sat in this spot (where we live) because I was grilling pork chops the night before, out here just drinking beer,” Brody said. “There was no sort of indication… He didn’t like going to the doctor and stuff, but last time he went, he was perfectly fine.”
 
For Zach, a 2009 BCLUW graduate, and Brody (Class of 2011), it marked the second time they’d buried a parent: their mother Diane passed away in 2007 after a battle with cancer. Dean’s loss rippled throughout the Beaman-Conrad area as well as his hometown of Gladbrook, and no one felt it more profoundly than his children.
 
“That’s one of the hardest things. With Mom, we said everything to her that we needed to say, but with him, we never got to,” Brody said. “That day, I was busy at work, and (Mid-Iowa coworker) Terry (Matney) was the first one that called me. Out of the million different calls I could’ve gotten that day, I would have never guessed it would be that one… I just completely froze, and I didn’t know how to react.”
           
Nearly two months later, a permanent remembrance of the beloved husband, father, employee and friend has been inscribed on the road leading into the cooperative: from now on, it will be known as Dean Halverson Way.
           
“It just hit me like a bolt of lightning that there was no street sign there on that corner, and that’s when the seed of the idea originated in my mind,” Mid-Iowa CEO Mike Kinley said. “We quietly put together the sign, and it was an honor to present it to the boys. I have to be honest with you: it was the hardest thing I’ve done in a while.”
           
Last week, a group that included Kinley took the brothers over to the Beaman Tap for burgers and drinks, but it included a special stop along the way. When they opened the wrapping, Brody and Zach—who typically share their dad’s characteristically stoic demeanor—let their emotions loose. 
 
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