THE NEWS-JOURNAL
Daytona Beach, Florida
September 20 , 1984

BETTY DEEN, TRANSPLANT PATIENT

Deland - - Betty H Deen, Route 4-332 Westchester Dr., died Wednesday night in the University of Alabama Hospital from complications of heart inflammation while awaiting a donor heart for a heart transplant, a hospital spokesman said today.

Mrs Deen, 50, was hospitalized in the Birmingham hospital after examination Aug 4 at West Volusia Memorial Hospital in Deland showed myocardtis requiring surgical attachment of a pacemaker. When an accompanying kidney infection cleared, doctors were able to proceed with issuing a call for a donor heart.

Ethel Whidden, a friend and colleague of Mrs Deen's at Deltona Junior High, where the latter was a bookkeeper, said a donor heart had be found but couldn't be used for a transplant because the tissue match with Miss Deen wasn't close enough.

Mrs Whidden said Mrs Deen, who was divorced, was very strong willed and a fighter, who was very concerned with the people around her.

Mrs Deen, an Espanola native from Flagler County, was a bookkeeper at Deltona Junior High since 1971, when she moved to Deland. She is survived by her mother, Jewel Deen of San Mateo; a brother, Ross Deen, San Mateo; a son Ric Deen, Gainesville; a daughter Donna Deen, Tampa and Mrs LaVanway, Washington, DC.

Allen-Summerhill Funeral Home, Deland, is in charge.