CLEAR LAKE, Iowa – Lesley Gouin Dean of Stoneham, Maine, was installed on Aug. 1 as Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War national president at the organization’s 115th National Convention.

The organization is made up of direct lineal descendants of Civil War veterans – an Allied Order of the Grand Army of the Republic.

One of the oldest U.S. lineage organizations, it was formed May 30, 1885, in Ohio. As well as preservation of Civil War monuments, historical documents, gravesites and cemeteries, the group provides scholarships to graduating students with Civil War descendants.

Dean is a 33-year member of the organization, having descended from James S. Small, who served in Co. K of the 12th Maine.

She can claim lineal descent from Eliab Richmond Frost, Co. I, 32ndME; Lorin McKeen, Co K, 20thME; John C. Whitehouse, Co H, 23rdME; and John Grover II, Co A 12thME.

She has several ancillary ancestors who served the Union.

A member and past president of Hannah F. Richardson Tent 19 in Stoneham, Dean served as Department of Maine president from 1999 to 2003.

She has served on numerous committees on a local, state and national level and has held four elected national offices prior to the president’s post. Dean served as chairwoman of Operation Desert Stocking I and II in 1990 and 2004.

The duties of the national president, beyond day-to-day administration, will include representing the organization at events in Gettysburg, Pa., Arlington National Cemetery and other locations in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. service academies, as well as visiting many of the states’ department and regional meetings.

Dean will preside over the 116th National Convention in August of 2006 when it is held in Harrisburg, Pa.

Dean attended schools in Oxford Hills and Fryeburg, graduating from Fryeburg Academy in 1975 and the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham in 1977.

She also holds certification in nonprofit development from the University of Southern Maine.

She is vice president of the Norway Business Association and is a former director of the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce.

The daughter of Joyce and Arthur Gouin of Norway, Dean lives in Stoneham with her husband of 25 years, Gary Dean, and a son Ryan, now serving in the Army.