George Dean Booth

George Dean Booth, 85, of Cutler Bay, Florida, died on March 26, 2024 from injuries sustained from a tragic car accident on March 1st. He is survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Eleanor Williams Booth and his 90 year old brother, William Dale Booth, of Downingtown, Pennsylvania.
George was born to William Henry Booth and Evelyn Snell Booth in Whitensville, Massachusettes on August 16, 1938. Several years later, the family moved to Cobourg, Ontario, Canada for ten years and then to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvannia.
George and Eleanor, or Ellie as she was known, were high school sweethearts who met in 10th grade. Following high school, George attended the University of Miami and Eleanor attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvannia. Despite the distance between them, their relationship remained as strong as ever. They married in 1961 and moved to Miami, which George had come to love.

                  

At U of M, George was known as Dean Booth. In fact, no one except the army referred to him as George until the mid sixties. At the University of Miami, George was an outstanding pitcher on the baseball team possessing, to this day, one of the lowest earned run averages which was achieved during his junior year. Upon graduation, professional scouts were interested in signing him, but he decided not to postpone his scheduled wedding. As it turned out, it was for the best, because he developed Type 1 diabetes several years later.
George taught 32 years in Miami- Dade Schools primarily at Hialeah High School. He would have taught longer had not his vision become too poor to drive or read normal size print.
Living with both Type 1 diabetes and vision loss requires great forebearance, and George met the challenge. He had an extensive collection of CD’s and

                  



33 1/3 records which he would listen to contentedly for hours. He most enjoyed classical and contemporary music and jazz classics. Although he could not see the screen, George could follow the action in baseball, football, and basketball more closely than could many sighted people.
George had a beautiful voice, and he sang in the choir at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Palmetto Bay over 50 years. George loved St. Andrew’s and was active over the years including serving two terms on the vestry. He was elected to a third term but was forced to resign almost immediately due to further vision loss.
In the 80’s, George had developed diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. A vitrectomy was performed at Bascom- Palmer to treat the retinopathy. The operation was highly successful and restored vision for 15 years. During this time, however, he developed


                  

glaucoma in one eye. The damage from glaucoma could not be restored. When it eventually became necessary to perform a second vitrectomy to treat the retinopathy, his retina was too impaired to result in a successful outcome and he eventually lost his sight.
George lived in what is now Palmetto Bay from 1965 to 1970 and in South Miami for 48 years before moving to East Ridge Retirement Village in Cutler Bay in 2013.
And he never stopped singing.