Dean Preston “kind of stumbled into journalism, but he had a real knack for it,” said his former editor, Steve Henson.
And he made a three-decade career out of it at the Pueblo Chieftain, where Henson is managing editor.
“He was a low-key, modest guy but a skilled newspaperman,” said Henson.
Preston, who covered agriculture for years, died in Amarillo, Texas, on March 9 at age 72 from cancer.
A native Texan, Preston loved his years in Colorado, “but he said before he retired that he always wanted to get back to Texas,” said his daughter Lisa Harper of Amarillo.
Preston was aiming for a career in teaching, but after a few months of student teaching, he decided there wasn’t enough discipline in the schools. He also considered being a county extension agent.
He delivered newspapers and then drifted into circulation and copy editing. He began writing and found his niche, his family said.
Preston created the agriculture beat for the Chieftain, covering planting, farming, water problems and cattle ranching. He won the Agriculture Champion award from the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and the award from the Pueblo County Farm Bureau for service to agriculture.
Henson said Preston was the lead reporter on the American Agriculture Movement stories in the 1970s.
At one point, thousands of farmers drove their tractors to Washington. Preston rode on one from Pueblo to Dallas.
His lifelong love of the land showed in his extensive vegetable garden. “And we had the best lawn in the neighborhood,” said Harper.
“He made friends easily and greeted everyone with open arms and those twinkly blue eyes,” said his daughter Judith Preston of Albuquerque.
“He was the real deal,” Henson said.
Preston understood farmers and ranchers and dressed like them, he said.
Dean Preston was born May 29, 1933, in McLean, Texas, and earned a degree in English from West Texas State (now West Texas A&M) University in Canyon, Texas.
He met Phyllis Harris on a blind date, and they were married June 8, 1953.
Preston worked on papers in Amarillo and Borger, Texas, and in Salida before taking the job at the Chieftain in 1970. He retired in 2000.
He was offered an editing job, “but he liked to be out interviewing people,” said Harper.
In addition to his wife and daughters, Preston is survived by another daughter, Kim Estep of Amarillo; two grandchildren; his brother, Jerry Preston of Amarillo; and a sister, Glenda Armbruster of Fort Smith, Ark.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-820-1223.
