Alvin Dean Lusk, 82 of Swink, Colorado, passed away at the Walsh Health Care Center, Walsh, Colorado on March 27, 2020.

Dean was born at home on April 18, 1937, on the Holbrook farm near Swink, Colorado to Hazel (Cummings) and Roy Lusk.  He attended Holbrook Baptist Church throughout his childhood where he was baptized at an early age. While at Swink School he played football, basketball, and band and was part of a quartet with his brother, Larry.  Dean was also Head Boy his senior year. When he was not at school he worked the graveyard shift at the Rocky Ford Sugar Factory for two or three campaigns. He also worked at the Swink lumber yard one summer. Dean was also expected to work on the family farm, of course, where they raised tons of melons which they had to load and haul to a huge weekly market in Denver. The melons were sold and then delivered to area markets by the drivers. In his spare time, Dean and his Uncle Pat hunted ducks, geese, pheasant, quail, dove, you name it. Dean learned to identify all manner of animals and birds at an early age and could tell what bird flew over by the look and sound. He especially loved all kinds of hawks and ducks. He had a mare, Ginger, with a colt name Buddy. Buddy was his favorite horse for many years.

Dean graduated from Swink High School in 1955. From there, he attended Otero Junior College where he received an Associates of Fine Arts degree. While at OJC, he was on their wrestling team and played with the band. Adams State College came next where he received a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in 1963 with an emphasis in music. He completed his service to our country by serving in the Army Reserves while in college.

Dean's first marriage was to Joyce Bland and together they had four children: Carrie, Greg, Mark and Matthew. He enjoyed watching all the different activities his kids, and then in time, his grandkids, participated in: rodeo, basketball, baseball, football, wrestling, plays, and band events.

While attending Adams State, he started breaking horses which he continued doing through the 1980s. Dean and the young family helped many ranchers in Baca Country, helping round up cattle, branding, vaccinating, sorting, and whatever else needed to be done.

After graduating from Adams State, Dean started the band program at Campo in his first year of teaching in the fall of 1963. After several years there, he returned to Swink where he taught music for two years and then on to La Veta where taught for one year. After that, he went to Springfield for three years.

Dean then decided it was time to move back to the family farm where he worked for two years. However, he used to tell that he kept seeing that yellow school bus go by and decided he missed teaching and just had to go back to doing what he loved – teaching music. So he returned to Campo where he started the brass band. He was honored as an exceptional music teacher and received many superior ratings during his teaching career.  He and his Campo band were recognized by the Colorado Band Masters Association as exceptional and were invited to perform at the Colorado State Band Masters Convention in 1979. He was particularly fond of brass and jazz bands and his students excelled under his direction. Dean was known for his position as conductor on the beautiful and widely known Campo School Band Wagon, built by his good friend James Nidey of Campo. The Campo School Band was invited to ride on the band wagon and played in many parades throughout the region where they were always a big hit to parade goers.  Most people didn't know that the band wagon allowed his students to attend parades without having to teach them to march, which he disliked.  He said, "Marching took away from the time needed to teach good music skills." So the band wagon was built.

One of his favorite activities was taking pack trips into the mountains and if you knew him, you knew that he was always abundantly prepared for anything.  On those family pack trips, everyone rode and led a horse piled up with supplies. The family lived like kings among the wild animals and trees. For many years prior to his move to Oklahoma, Dean would take groups during summer breaks to the mountains; sometimes it was a church youth group or a group of troubled teens, but most often it was his family and close friends.

In 1982, he moved to Konawa, Oklahoma, to teach music. He had an outstanding jazz band which participated in many contests and always brought home superior ratings.

In 1985 he married Mable (Jenkins) Lusk. If Mable and Dean weren't at work, you'd find them fishing. In 1987 they returned to Swink to help Dean's mother in whatever ways they could while his father was in the nursing home. This is when he returned to teaching at Swink for nine years until his retirement in the mid-90s. All in all, Dean taught music for a total of 31 years.

The farm where Dean grew up was always home to him.  He enjoyed livestock, particularly his horses, but he also had an uncanny way with all animals.  He seemed to understand things about them few others do.  He could just look at an animal and tell you so much about it.  He loved nature as well.  He knew the name of every wild bird and animal in the area and was happiest out among them.  In fact, if Dean wasn't in the band room he was outdoors tending to his animals, enjoying nature, or working with his hands. Dean was an avid fisherman, and he especially loved spending time fishing and working on projects outdoors with Mable. Together they did everything and wherever Dean was, Mable could be found helping with all the chores and upkeep on the family farm. In his retirement, he was an avid gardener and particularly enjoyed raising fancy pumpkins and gourds.

Dean is preceded in death by his parents, Roy and Hazel Lusk, and by his brother and sister-in law, Wayne and Esther Lusk.

Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Mable (Jenkins) Lusk, of the family home and by his brother Larry (Lanny) Lusk of La Junta.  He is also survived by his daughter, Carrie Thompson of Colorado Springs and her children Seth (Amanda), Isaac (Anna) of Colorado Springs, and Melissa (Joel) Duarte of Valencia, Spain; son Greg (Dawnette) Lusk of Amarillo, TX, their children Jordan, Savannah, Dakota, T'Keema, Jayda, McKenzie and Wyatt Lusk; son Mark (Renee) Lusk of Amarillo, TX, and their children James Reid and Sam; and son Matthew (Annette) Lusk of Naples, Florida, and their children, Solomon, Mattea, Shaylah and Tresana. Also surviving are great-grandchildren Penny (Seth and Amanda) Thompson and Jonah (Isaac and Anna) Thompson. Step-son Fabian Spell and his children Justin and Destiny and Justin's children Ely and Kynlee also survive. Also surviving are many nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations will be gratefully accepted by the Arkansas Valley Hospice or Walsh Health Care Center (earmarked for veterans).