TOPSHAM — Dean George Tibbitts, 77, died peacefully at his home on Saturday evening, July 11, 2015, after a yearlong battle with lung cancer. Born on Jan. 25, 1938, in East Millinocket, Maine, the second identical twin son to Edith Mae Stratton Tibbitts and Carrick Amos Tibbitts. He attended schools in East Millinocket and graduated from Schenck High School in 1956. Eleven days after graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy.

On May 17, 1958, he married Barbara Ann Smart of Millinocket, Maine. They moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where Dean was stationed aboard the USS Vandivier. He was chosen to join a new program: Admiral Rickover’s New Nuclear Powered Navy. Over the next several years, they moved to Vallejo, California, Pocatello, Idaho, and Schenectady, New York, for training in this new field. His next duty station was the USS Bainbridge, where he was a plank owner. He served aboard this ship for four years, traveling to Charleston, South Carolina, and Collingswood, New Jersey, and deployment cruises. A new ship was being built and Dean was sent to training in Saratoga Springs, New York. From here he was assigned to the USS Truxton, home ported in Long Beach, California, where he ran the nuclear reactor engines. He served aboard the Truxton for eight years, moving to Bremerton, Washington, for an overhaul and then back down the West Coast to San Diego, California, as well as several deployment cruises.

In 1976, after 20 years of service and obtaining the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer, he asked to be assigned back to the East Coast. He was stationed in Groton, Connecticut, teaching nuclear power. In 1979, he retired from the U.S. Navy with the many honors that he had earned over the years. He began working at Maine Yankee, in Wiscasset, Maine, and retired from there in 1997 when the facility was being closed.

Surviving him are his wife of 57 years Barbara; daughter Dina and her husband Tony; son Scott and his wife Angela; grandson Jeffrey and his wife Michelle; granddaughter Sarah and her boyfriend Corey; grandsons Griffin, Caleb and Angus; step grandsons Garrett and Sage; great granddaughter Vivienne. Also his twin brother Donald, sisters Carolyn, Patricia and her husband Karl, Helen and her boyfriend Richard; sister-inlaws Ethel and her husband Al, and Constance; brotherin law Frank and his wife Elizabeth. Some aunts and uncles and many nieces and nephews.

Visiting hours will be held Wednesday, July 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Stetson’s Funeral Home, 12 Federal St., Brunswick. A memorial service will be held Thursday, July 16 at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. A graveside service with military honors will be held on Saturday, July 18, 2015, at 11 a.m. in the East Millinocket Cemetery.

Memorial condolences may be expressed at stetsonsfuneralhome.com.