Dean Quamme Memorial Scholarship

“The Scholarship is being established in memory of Dean Quamme.

Dean L. Quamme, age 83, passed away April 18, 2019, at his home in Grand Junction.
Dean was born August 13, 1935, in Lebanon, Oregon to Stanley and Josephine Quamme. He attended high school in Salem, Oregon. He spent two years in the Army, primarily in Germany, then returned to Oregon and married Elizabeth Anne Jones. They adopted and raised two children, Mark and Barbara. They later divorced. In 1983, he married Suzanne Fillo and adopted her daughter, Tricia.

Dean graduated from Oregon State in June of 1960 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering. He worked for several companies including General Electric, Ebasco Services, Stone and Webster Engineering, Management Analysis Company and MACTEC. One of his early jobs was in Richland, Washington at the Hanford Nuclear Weapons Facility. The majority of his work after that was in the Nuclear Power Plant area as a Project Construction Manager in Japan, Switzerland and many more locations around the United States. With the slowdown of building nuclear power plants, his work dealt mostly with remediation projects, which brought him to Grand Junction in 1996 to oversee the Contract at the DOE cleanup site.

Prior to coming to Grand Junction, Dean and Suzanne lived in the Denver area. During that time, in addition to his regular employment, Dean had a couple of volunteer interests. In 1991, he was appointed by Governor Roy Romer as a member of the Board of Directors of the Denver Metropolitan Major Leagues Stadium District that oversaw the construction of the Colorado Rockies Coors Field Stadium. That involvement turned Dean and Suzanne into huge Rockies fans. Another appointment for Dean by Governor Romer was to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. After coming to Grand Junction, he left those positions but never his interest in both areas. As a result, Dean was asked to be a part of an Advisory Group at CMU. Unfortunately, due to his increasing health issues, he resigned last year.

Dean is survived by his loving wife of 36 years, Suzanne; daughters, Tricia (Marty) Burns of Grand Junction and Barbara (Phil) Poland of Virginia; son, Mark (Deanna) Quamme of Washington; sisters, Marjorie Singleton of California and Marilyn (Marvin) McLeod-Walker of Arizona, and grandchildren, Kaitlyn Burns of Grand Junction and Cameron, Dana and Cooper Poland of Virginia."