Maurice Dale Little

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Maurice Dale Little, who departed this life on June 26, 2025 at the age of 97. Dale passed peacefully, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, dedication, and quiet strength.

Born on April 13, 1928 in North Grove, Miami County, Indiana, to Maridieth and Mary Ellen Gardner Little, Dale attended schools in LaFontaine, IN and Hope, IN, where he graduated from High School. He attended Purdue University and graduated with a BS in 1950. Dale entered the army in September 1950 and served on active duty until October 1953. He graduated from Officers Candidate School in Fort Benning, GA and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps. He was stationed in Landstuhl, Germany where he was attached to the 569th Blood Bank. He was in the Army Reserves until 1963 and rose to the rank of Captain. After discharge from active duty, he was employed at the Microbiology Laboratory of the Indiana State Board of Health until 1956 when he left to attend Graduate School at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. He received the MS degree in 1958 and the PhD in Parasitology in 1961.

Dale was employed by The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University from 1961 to 1998, when he retired as Professor Emeritus. He and his family spent two years, 1965-1967, at Tulane University’s International Center for Medical Research and Training in Cali, Colombia where he carried out research of several tropical parasitic diseases. He also carried out studies in Egypt and Iran. He was a member of the American Society of Parasitologists, in which he served as a Council Member-at-Large and Secretary-Treasurer, and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, in which he served as an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Dale married Marcella Ann West on November 19, 1955 in Indianapolis, IN. They moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1956 where they remained until 2005 when Hurricane Katrina forced them to move to Birmingham, AL, where their daughter Linda lived. They had three children: Julie, spouse James Brooks Graham III of New Orleans, Louisiana; Randall of Laval, Quebec, Canada; and Linda, spouse Samuel Kindervater of Birmingham, Alabama. Grandchildren are Hannah Merideth Kindervater, Eva Maia Novac-Little, and Clarisse Lilyrose Novac-Little. He was preceded in death by his wife Marcella, daughter Linda, and sisters Jacquelyn Little Lord and Virginia Little Shugart.

Dale was an enthusiastic golfer and he and Marcella were long-time square dancers and nature lovers. He was a friend of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham and the Community Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans. He was known for his generous heart, unwavering work ethic, and the gentle way he touched the lives of all who knew him. Dale will be dearly missed but never forgotten. His life was a testament to compassion, resilience, and quiet grace.