Delores Dean Rice Littlestar

      According to my grandmother's family records, Delores Dean Rice was born on October 27, 1932 in Belford west of Ralston. This darling of her mother probably earned that recognition since she was the last baby to be born to Ernest and Daisy Rice.
     "Dean" as she came to be known, was Daisy' s daughter but had the fire of her aunt, Gladys Rainey Smith, my grandmother. She was creative like my grandma since she trained her little blind dog to clean under the kitchen table, lessening  Dean's need to sweep with the broom!

Delores Dean Rice - the most serious
I ever remember seeing of Dean. The
earliest photo of Dean in Grandma's
vintage photograph collection.

     Her musical talent appeared in the blog posting entitled When the Little Brown-Eyed Durgan Lived With My Grandparents. It was published last year on November 9. Singing three-part harmony was quite a feat for a sixth grader! Once again here is the similarity with her aunt, my grandmother, because Grandma was a note-perfect alto singer.
     She married Al Littlestar, a tall, handsome young man of Osage descent. Dean has an out-going personality much like Grandma. Both Al and my grandpa, Calvin Callcayah, also of Native American descent - Cherokee, would be considered reserved compared to Dean and Grandma.
     Grandma did much nursing pro bono during the Great Depression and World War II. As soon as Dean was old enough, Grandma discovered that Dean enjoyed going to assist her with caring for the sick in the community. From that point on, the twosome headed out on many medical adventures in the Big Bend.
     This desire to reach out and help others continued when Dean and Al moved from the Bend. She loved to entertain. An amazing account in her life involved friends from Texas coming to visit Dean and Al in Colorado. Shockingly, the couple's baby arrived early, but the couple had to return to Texas. So who visited the preemie every day? Dean Littlestar delighted in checking on that little one until the joyous day of discharge came.

Gary, Delores Dean, Al, and Mark Littlestar in 1978.

     Dean recently told me one of her sons asked about the origin of the family's legacy of faith. Dean replied, "Aunt Gladys - she made sure we were in the community Sunday School and church." Grandma was pushy with her faith much to the disgust of those who didn't share her love of the Lord.She was an aggressive believer in Jesus and His impact on her life. Seemingly, she felt she had lost the first thirty years of her life since she did not commit her life to Him until her father's death just prior to her thirty-first birthday.
     Dean continues to minister to women through prayer groups and Bible studies. Being a cancer survivor has caused many hurting women to listen to her witness for Christ and ask for her prayers.

My mother, Bernyce Smith Gates, and Delores
 Dean Rice Littlestar enjoying the Burbank High
 School Reunion in the summer of 2008.

Happy Birthday to Dean, the niece who is more like her aunt than her own mother!