Avalon Park Fourth of July Celebration to Honor Timber Creek High School Grad killed in Afghanistan

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Avalon Park’s 9th annual Fourth of July celebration, which is expected to draw record crowd to Downtown Avalon Park for fireworks, games, exhibitions and family-friendly entertainment, will include a solemn memorial to honor the memory of U.S. Army Corporal Patrick D. Deans, who was killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 12, 2010.

Deans, a graduate of Timber Creek High School in Avalon Park, who served in the high school’s junior ROTC program, was a member of the United States Army, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, headquartered at Ft. Campbell, Ky.

Stephanie Hodson, marketing director at Avalon Park Group, said Deans was killed along with five of his fellow soldiers when a minibus loaded with an estimated 1,000 pounds of explosives got past an Afghan security point near a joint NATO-Afghan outpost in the Kandahar province, exploded just outside of a building where the soldiers were gathered. The blast collapsed the building, killed six American soldiers and wounded 11.

Hodson said the memorial service, which will begin at 8:45 p.m. just before the fireworks exhibition, will include presentation of colors, the presentation of a special plaque in the Avalon Park Community Garden honoring the Dean family’s sacrifice, a speech by Orange County Commissioner Jennifer Thompson and a moment of silence.

Corporal Dean had already fulfilled his enlistment obligation in the Army when he volunteered to extend his enlistment to deploy with younger soldiers who were inexperienced in combat so he could guide them with the knowledge he had gained from his deployment to Iraq in 2008.

“Corporal Deans was one of our own and we want to take just a moment to honor his service, his sacrifice, and his family,” said Beat Kahli, developer of Avalon Park.