Deck Eugene Harrell died peacefully, surrounded by his family, on 3 April 2017 in Tomball, TX.

Deck was born in Long Beach, CA, to Bettie and Dexter Harrell. A navy junior, he spent his high school years following his father around the world, graduating from Marina High School, Huntington Beach, CA. After one year of local college, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy graduating with the class of 1969. He was subsequently advanced to the grade of Lieutenant and was also designated a Surface Warfare Officer.

After receiving his commission, he served as Damage Control Assistant and then was re-toured as Engineer Officer on USS Everett F. Larson (DD-830). He graduated from Naval Destroyer School with class 40, and reported to USS Buchanan (DDG-14) where he served as Operations and Engineer Officer. He served as Commanding officer of Mobile Mine Assembly Group Unit 9 in Subic Bay, Philippines. He also served as Operations Officer on USS Pyro (AE-24).

In his final tour as Operations Officer/Navigator he became proficient in Celestial navigation and crossed the Pacific four times – all done before the advent of GPS navigation systems.

After leaving the service, Deck earned a Masters Degree in Business from Pepperdine University, moved with the family to Texas and joined Western Oceanic holding several Engineering positions. This included a stint as a drilling superintendent in Aberdeen Scotland, and the whole family enjoyed the wonderful Scots and beautiful countryside. He left Western Oceanic to start up Team Litigation with his brother, Kevin, where they provided legal support services and software development.

Deck is survived by his beloved wife of over 47 years, Rosemary (Honey Larkin) Harrell, their children Gwynne Andrea Spreen and Dan Eric Harrell; and four grandchildren, Dexter, Gillian, Ethan and Liam.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to NextOp, 2929 McKinney Street, Houston, TX 77003 ( www.nextopvets.org ). NextOp assists our military veterans transition back into the civilian workforce.