The Payson Roundup / Obituaries

Dean Hill Roberts

Dean Hill Roberts, of Pine, died Aug. 7, 2009 of a massive heart attack, doing what he loved — enjoying his horses with his niece and nephew. He was born Dec. 28, 1949 in Greensboro, N.C.
Mr. Roberts was in the Air Force a short time before moving to Denver, Colo. where he lived 10 years and owned an auto mechanic garage, The Bug Doctor. He then moved to Pine with his wife Sherre in 1981, where he opened and operated an automobile high performance and mechanic shop, Dean’s Automotive. Shortly after his arrival in Pine, while viewing the grandeur of Milk Ranch Point from on top of Hardscrabble Road, he stated, “This is where I want to live forever.”
He loved improving the performance of engines. An inventor, he created and test drove his invention, the vaporizer, a device that causes the engine of an automobile to run on gasoline vapor instead of fluid, thus improving the gasoline mileage significantly.
In recent years his love turned to teaching children to ride and handle horses. He had a natural talent at understanding the behavior of all animals, tame and wild. Other interests included the study of metaphysics and enjoying the great outdoors. “We miss him,” his family writes.
He is survived by his mother, Mary; father, Reg; brother, Corbin; sisters, Marjeanne and Marcia; nieces, Anne, Jessie, Heather and Emily; and nephew, Jacob.