Dale Dixon, 86

Dale Dixon, 86, of Hampton, passed away October 26, 2021 at his home in Hampton. Funeral services will be 1:30 p.m. on Monday, November 1, 2021 at the Hampton United Methodist Church with burial in the Hampton Cemetery. Visitation will be on Sunday from 2-4 p.m. at the Sietsema-Atkinson Funeral Home in Hampton.

Dale Lee Dixon was a self-taught, enterprising young CEO before it was trendy. He kept a copy of his first pay stub for $1 an hour at Cashway Lumber where he devoted his entire career.

Dale was born on August 5, 1935, in Marshalltown, Iowa. “A proud Leo,” he’d say. He was protective of his family and generously loyal.

He grew up in Garwin where his father, Oliver Lee, ran the local gas pump and modeled the business skills Dale would later take up. His mom, Wanda, focused on the home. He was one of five siblings, Jean, Donna, Mary, and Paul. Paul and Dale shared careers in the lumber business. Paul at Cashway Lumber in Mason City and Dale in Hampton.

Faith was an important part of his life. He started each morning with his daily devotions and was an active member of the Hampton United Methodist Church for 57 years.

There was an ease in most efforts Dale took on, rising to the top where he accepted the spotlight with humility and grace. He was a cute young cheerleader when he was five. Later he became a basketball star, at one point making forty points in a game. His parents were in the stands without fail. “They were always there,” he said, choking back tears when recalling they never missed a game. It’s something he would carry forward with his own children always attending their games.

His first job was as a newspaper boy followed by running the movie projector. At seventeen, he graduated valedictorian of Garwin High School. He attended UNI for one week, was homesick, and turned around. Next, he went to school closer to home, attending Marshalltown Community Business School for one year before starting as an employee at Cashway Lumber Store in Marshalltown and later becoming a partner at the Hampton store.

In June 1954, Dale married Shirley Pothast. They met when she taught elementary school in Garwin across the street from where he lived. He heard the sound of a bouncing basketball at the school one afternoon and saw a young teacher shooting baskets. Their love of basketball brought them together and carried through generations. They had three children. His first child and namesake, Diane Dale. Dawn, the daughter who sat at his bedside until his final breath and Michael, his only son.

After ten years as an employee, the family moved to Hampton in January of 1964 when Dale was made partner at Cashway. The job came with the task of not only building the business from scratch but constructing it too. His office was a small shed with a space heater while the store was under construction. He was a boss before 30, a position he kept for the next 31 years, making his tenure at Cashway Lumber 41 years until it was successfully sold in 1995.

He was lucky enough to know love three times in his life. After Shirley and Dale divorced, they continued to raise their children together. He met Wanda Jenkins when she worked at the Golden Goose in Clear Lake. She and her three children Ricky, Laura, and Timmy were a big part of his life. Wanda and he would have married, but she became sick and they never had the chance.

Dale was a man who knew what he wanted and went after it. In 1980, he asked his friend Betty Abrahms if she could set him up with any of her friends. Shortly after, Dale showed up at a blind date where a precocious ten-year-old opened the door. Two years later, he married Barbara Foell and added two more children to his family. Michelle, with a birthday one day before his and who together became the lions in the house, and Robin, who he won over by pretending to sneeze so hard he rolled back into a summersault across the living room floor. They stayed together until Barb’s death in 2009. He never stopped wearing his wedding ring and often saw her in his dreams as the end of his life approached.

He didn’t play basketball again but took up golf with vigor. He lived by the Hampton golf course where he’d drive his cart over and play a round at the end of the workday and on weekends playing in tournaments with Barb. When they retired, they joined the snowbird club and went to Mesa, Arizona each winter where they traded their clubs for shuffleboard sticks. Dale rose to the top again and had a shed full of trophies within a few years. He would wake up early in Mesa to prepare the court and shoo away the birds that pecked at the cornmeal polish.

He believed in people, often seeking ways to help. He was active on the church leadership, country club board, and shuffleboard association and cherished the comradery of his Terrace Hill neighbors.

He was a big proponent of family vacations, choosing a new place to visit every summer. He was always the driver on these vacations and every now and then there was a song he’d lean over to turn up and sing along with. The Lion Sleeps Tonight was one of his favorites, singing along with the chorus while the rest of the car giggled.

Dale passed away on October 26, 2021 at the age of 86. He went to bed and like everything else in his life, he progressed quickly. He passed away quietly in his home of the past forty years with his daughter Dawn and her husband Jeff at his side.

A lion does indeed sleep tonight. His family rests easier knowing he loved deeply and was fully loved in return. He made a difference to many.

He’s survived by his children Diane (Douglas) Storey of Hampton, Dawn (Jeff) Marquard of Hampton, Michael (Sue Tong) Dixon of Greenville, South Carolina, Michelle Morris of Palos Hills, Illinois, Robin Dixon of San Francisco, California. Also by his sisters Donna Parsons of Marshalltown, Mary Abbe of Marshalltown, and brother Paul (Susan) Dixon of Mason City. His grandchildren Amanda (Scott) Eichmeier, Preston, Boston, and Easton; Paige (Paul Quinn) Marquard; Molly (Carlos Morales) Marquard; Erica Graeser, Greta, Gage; Angela (Scott McCann) Marquard; Mikyla (Ismael) Rodriguez, Anthony, Eden; Lee (Rhea) Dixon, Miles; Gail Dixon; James Lewerke, Christopher (Carla) Lewerke, Alec Morris.

He was preceded in death by his parents Oliver and Wanda, his wife Barbara, Shirley (Pothast) Dixon, Wanda Jenkins, his sister Jean, and his great-grandson Luca.