Dean Lane Axene

Rear Admiral Dean Lane Axene, 85, of Azalea Trace, Pensacola, Florida, died on Friday, 19 December 2008 at Sacred Heart Hospital, Pensacola, Florida and interment will be at the Barrancas National Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida . 

Admiral Axene was born in Kansas City, Missouri on 1 August 1923, the son of Oscar and Marlowe Axene and grew up in Columbus, Ohio.  He graduated in June 1941 from Upper Arlington High School, where he was captain of the football team his senior year.  He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in July 1941 where he played football and graduated in accelerated courses on & June 1944.  He was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy and married Sally Ann Haas on that same day.

His early Navy career was spent almost exclusively in submarines.  Highlights were:  two WWII war patrols in USS Parche (SS384) during the period 1944 to 1946. After post graduate work at MIT, Admiral Axene served on USS Tiru (SS416) from 1948 to 1951, USS Sea Robin (SS407) from 1952 to 1953, as Commanding Officer of USS Croker (SS246) from 1953 to 1954, as commissioning Executive Officer USS Nautilus (SSN571) from 1954 to 1956,  as commissioning Commanding Officer USS Thresher (SSN593) from 1960 to 1962, and as commissioning Commanding Officer of John C. Calhoun (SSBN630) Blue Crew from 1963 to 1966. 

Attendance at the State Department’s Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy was followed by assignments related to international relations in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and on the Staff of the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic. Admiral Axene retired 1 July 1974 following a tour as Deputy Chief of Naval Education and Training.  His awards included: Submarine Combat Control Patrol pin with 1 gold Star, Polaris Patrol pin with 2 gold stars, Bronze Star Medal with Combat V, Legion of Merit—3 awards, Great Star of Military Merit from the government of Chile.

Following retirement from the Navy, Admiral Axene spent eleven plus years with Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the Pensacola Division providing support to foreign licensees in the design and construction of commercial nuclear power plants located in England, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Japan and Korea. He retired from Westinghouse in September 1985.

Principal Community activities include having been a board member and officer of the following organizations:  Pensacola Council Navy League, Naval Academy Alumni Association, Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, World Trade Council and Scenic Hills Country Club.