My late mother's name was Ruby Dean Motes Sellers. Like all good rural southern girls she wasn't known by one name but by two: Ruby Dean. In fairness, some of her family would from time to time call her Dean, her nieces and nephews on her side of the family would call her Aunt Dean but no one ever called her Ruby. That is except for patronizing people like the staff at the doctor's office who really didn't know her but would see her name on the registration card and might call her Miss Ruby but as she was prone to say, "they don't know no better."
Mama gave birth to 8 darlings in her life time of which I was the seventh. She told me later in my life that she was fond of the name Dean and always wanted to name on of her children Dean. So the time came when it was my time to enter the world that she decided to make her wish come true, I was to be named Dean, boy or girl. You have to remember that when I was born, the sex of the unborn child was a mystery until an eyes-on investigation could say for sure which it was. Fortunately, Dean is one of those androgynous names that can fit either sex so the plan was in place. Now, what to go with Dean to make the name complete?
Here's where Minnie Pearl enters the picture.
In the early '50's, entertainment from outside the home came mostly in the form of the radio. Entertainment could come in the form of a drama, or the broadcast of a ballgame, but one of the most popular shows on the radio, particularly for my folks, was the Grand Ole Orpy. Live from the historic Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, Tennessee would come the sounds of country music performers like Roy Acuff, Little Jimmy Dickens and countless others, including Minnie Pearl.
One of the main sponsors of the Opry was American Ace Coffee, a product of the American Tea and Coffee Company, also of Nashville. Their commercials would open with Minnie Pearl shouting: "Elmer, don't forget the American Ace Coffee!" The name Elmer would be said in the same style as her famous tag line: "How-dee!", with the second syllable rising an octave or so higher in pitch than the first.
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| An American Ace Coffee bag as offered for sale on eBay |
American Ace Coffee also sponsored a radio show known as the American Ace Coffee Show using the same commercial. Thanks to an exhaustive search of the internet by my friend Steve Lancaster, you can hear it the introduction of the show here:
And, according to the story told to me by my mother, this is where she found the inspiration to use the name Elmer to go along with her Dean and is how I got my name. I think it's also the inspiration for the way she would call out to get me home in time for supper when I was off playing with the kids down the street. She would step onto the back porch and holler: "Ellll-mer." Nothing else need be said and I knew it was time to go home. I could pretend I didn't hear her but there were usually corporal consequences if I did!
Interestingly, for the first few years of my life, I was called Deannie. I started the first grade of school with my family calling me that while at school I was known as Elmer. I opted to stick with Elmer until I went into the Navy where I chose to use the name Dean. My friends from that era still use Dean. But of course, here in the deep south there are those that think the proper style is to use both!
I continued the tradition of the name Dean and my son is named Jonathan Dean, although he has never gone by Dean. Perhaps he will maintain the tradition and we will have a Dean in the family for the future.
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| From 2003, Elmer Dean, Ruby Dean and Jonathan Dean Sellers |
