Dale Wallace Eulogy

Dale Granville Wallace was born September 28, 1946 in Oswaldtwistle, England. He was the second

of four children born to Walter and Olive Wallace. When Dale was two years old our parents were

introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by two missionaries. They were baptized

after taking lessons for a period of time. The family later immigrated to America and Dale and our older

sister were sealed to our parents in the Arizona temple shortly thereafter.

Dale had a simple and happy life as a youth. He remembered being responsible for doing the dishes

and all outside work including weeding, trimming, and mowing the lawn. His least favorite chore was

weeding. In a small journal Dale recorded that as a youth he liked to attend dances with his friends

every Saturday night. In high school, he was on the cross country and track teams and his main event

was running the mile. Other hobbies he had as a youth included playing the French horn and going on

weekend outings and scout campouts. He recalled receiving good advice from both of his parents while

growing up. The best advice his mother gave him was to “do your best and be happy.” His favorite

piece of advice from his father was “Pay yourself first. Don't spend more money than you have. Always

try your best.”

Some of his early jobs as a youth included a paper route where he received $12 a week, working at his

father’s insurance office, and picking cotton on a farm. He earned his Eagle Scout at the age of 14 and

was proud to be the first boy in his ward to ever receive it. He recalled a fun Memorial Day tradition

of riding paddle boats at Encanto Park while listening to the Indianapolis 500 on the radio. In 1964 he

graduated from Mesa High in the Jack Rabbit Stadium. He recalled that it was very hot but lots of fun

for the 600+ graduates.

He was called to serve a full-time service mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

in the California North Mission in 1965. While serving his mission he met his future wife, June, who

was serving as a part-time local missionary. A notable moment from his mission occurred when Dale

presented a Book of Mormon to Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967.

Upon being released in 1967, after two years of missionary service, Dale returned home to Mesa, AZ. A

draft notice was waiting for him at home but he desired to pursue his college education. His dad called

the admissions office at BYU on a Monday morning to see if Dale could enroll for the semester. The

late registration deadline was three days previous but admissions said if he could be on campus by 3pm

that day they would make an exception and admit him. Dale was on the next flight to Utah. Lucky for

him, June was already in Provo also attending BYU. He called her the day he arrived and asked her to

pick him up from the admissions office so they could spend time together. Six weeks later they were

engaged to be married. When once asked what attracted him to June, Dale recorded: “she was cute,

lots of fun, and had a nice family.”

Dale and June endured a long-distance engagement while he attended school at Arizona State University

and she lived in Sacramento working full-time. They were married for time and all eternity in the

Oakland, California LDS temple on June 8, 1968. They started their lives together in Mesa, Arizona

where Dale finished his education at Arizona State University. He graduated in May of 1970 with a

Bachelor’s in Elementary Education. He noted that he chose an education major because he wanted

to help people. He landed a job with the San Juan School District with Central Elementary School in

Orangevale, California and began teaching 5th

house upon moving to Rancho Cordova where they’ve resided their entire married life.

After two years of teaching, Dale decided he wasn’t as fond of the teaching career as he thought he

would be and became a manager at Thrifty Drug in 1972. He retired from Thrifty on a Friday in June

of 2004, after 32 years of employment. The following Monday he started as a manager at Petco where

he worked for 8 years. After enjoying an 8 week retirement he returned to working at Petco part-time

which he called his “hobby.”

Dale made many close friends of fellow managers and co-workers during his time in retail. Together

they went on a boating excursion and a golf trip to Arizona. Decades later, these men still call Dale a

good friend.

Dale is known to all as a hard worker and in a progress review after four years with Thrifty his regional

manager noted the following: “Mr. Wallace is a very good performer, bright, and appears to be quite

interested in his work. He has real potential and could go beyond Manager. Mr. Wallace is a unique

assistant. He is different than any other assistant I have. I have no doubt that at this point Mr. Wallace

can be an above-average manager. He is always aware of what is going on in his store and knows what

to do. He gets the job done and does it well with what appears to be a minimum amount of effort. He

is quite conscious of his responsibilities and gets embarrassed if you find something he overlooked.”

While Dale’s official position was as a manager, no job was below him. He could be found scooping ice

cream, filling in at registers, or wherever else he was needed, always with a smile on his face.

In December of 1987, June gave birth to their last child bringing their total count to 11 children including

Bob, Heather, Lisa, Jeff, Alyson, Mike, Julie, Erin, Courtney, Tom & Holli.

Dale served faithfully in numerous church callings throughout his life including Sunday School

Presidency, YM President, Stake YM President, executive secretary, stake auditor, bishop and most

recently High Priest Group Assistant. He put 100% effort into all of his callings and truly loved serving

fellow members of the ward. While serving as Bishop in the Sun River ward, Dale was very involved

with the youth who admired him greatly. At his passing, several posted messages of love and fond

memories and ways in which he had touched their lives.

Not only did Dale selflessly serve members of his church but could often be found assisting his neighbors

with various projects.

Anyone who knows Dale knows that he loved life and was never without a smile on his face. As a

boy, Dale liked to build toy models and his love for building carried into his later years. He enjoyed

working on projects including adding onto his house, rebuilding a 1930 Ford Model A, and many other

building projects. His children will always remember his selflessness in willingly helping them with

various projects in their own homes. He loved learning new things and enjoyed watching car and house

shows to expand his building knowledge. In a short journal Dale recorded that his favorite pastime was

working around the house.

 grade in September 1970. He and June bought their first

Dale was a true sports lover, always staying updated on his favorite teams and then some. He

celebrated team victories while watching games with his local sons or over the phone with his out-of-
state sons. His love of sports has been passed down to his boys and they fondly remember him hitting

them fly balls every day after work. They didn’t even let him step foot in the door before badgering him

into a game of ball. Once they grew up, his sons and sons-in-law enjoyed playing golf with their Dad.

Dale’s family and friends will always remember him as a jokester, always making others laugh. While

sorting through pictures after his passing, his children noted that more than half of the pictures of Dale

were of him making a goofy face.

His immense love for his grandchildren was evident in the way he read to them, played with them, and

attended many of their important activities and milestones.

At Dale’s passing, he and his wife had been married for 45 happy years. Dale once jokingly recorded

that the two things he tried to unsuccessfully change in his wife was to stop her from biting her nails and

to turn her into a Republican.

Dale suffered a heart attack while working at Petco on Wednesday, November 6 and passed away

peacefully surrounded by family on Saturday, November 9. While his passing came as a shock to family

and friends, we are filled with peace knowing that he has returned home and been reunited with his

mother and father. Dale will be remembered as a follower of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and an example of

love and kindness. He will be sorely missed for his loving and jovial personality.