Dale Arlen Smith

Our beloved father, Dale Arlen Smith, passed away from this life into the next at the age of 90 on March 13, 2023. Dale was born August 2, 1932, to Harry Oral and Mary Ellen Smith in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was preceded in death by both of his parents, and his oldest son, Jeffrey Craven Smith who passed away in September 2015.

As a child, Dale’s love of aircraft began early. His dad gave him a Stinson Reliant, SR7 model airplane kit to build in 1938-1939 that cost 25 cents. After salvaging the fuselage that his dad had assembled, Dale finished the rest of the model and acquired his next kit on his own, a “Phantom Flash R.O.G.” Despite material shortages due to the war, Dale built over 100 models by the end of 8th grade in 1946, each requiring many hours and had wing spans up to seven feet.

Early on, Dale learned the fine art of working with people and gained essential business skills delivering newspapers and collecting weekly charges. He considered his mother the spiritual leader of their family who saw to it that they were involved in their local church, Seventh Christian Church and then Garden City Christian Church on Rockville Road, Indianapolis. The commitment to developing his belief and values of Christian faith were lived out and passed on to his children. When the family moved to a new community, a nearby church home was found including St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, where they could be active and where he continued throughout the rest of his life as health permitted.

He continued his formal education, graduating from Ben Davis High School (Indianapolis) and then enrolling in Purdue University where he pursued his passion for flight and space in the School of Aeronautics, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering with a major in aircraft powerplants. While at Purdue, Dale served as the circulation manager of the school’s newspaper, The Exponent.

In August 1954, Dale began his career at Douglas Aircraft Company and one month later married Beverley Fair Kohlenberger, a native Orange Countian whom he met at Purdue, and continued to make Orange County, California his home for the better part of sixty-nine years. Together they shared four beautiful children Rebecca, Jeffrey, Eric, and Stuart.

Dale invested his entire professional career as an engineer and engineering manager with the Douglas Aircraft Company, which became the McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company, and is now known as Boeing. From his first assignment of writing an Engineering Order for the USAF’s C-124 transport to one of his last assignments in Berlin, he retired in 1996 after 42 years of service. His projects varied from commercial aircraft beginning with piston engine powered airplanes, USAF projects, compressed natural gas tankers, submarine torpedoes, military aircraft, and many other projects including top secret ones that even his kids are not aware of. A highlight of his work was in rocket science where he spent ten years on rocket booster systems designed for outer space. In this endeavor, Dale was the propulsion manager for the Saturn S-IVB stage rocket that went to the moon. “The Saturn program was a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone who happened to be in the right place at the right time. In the ranking of human technical achievement, it’s at the top” (from his Adventures in Engineering, Dale Arlen Smith, 2001).

As a father, Dale instilled the love of exploration and travel with his children, discovering many of the country’s national parks of the west and southwest, road trips to Mexico and Canada, camping at California State Beaches, and discovering the desert in bloom among others. He shared his love of air travel with Sunday afternoon adventures to the LAX observation deck and Santa Ana Municipal Airport (now the John Wayne International Airport) and outer space discoveries through telescopes and watching the Apollo and Saturn missions on the family’s black and white television.

Survivors include his children Rebecca Smith (husband, Dan Luebcke) of Sierra Vista, Arizona, Eric Smith (wife, Johnna) of Huntington Beach, California, and Stuart Smith (wife, Tracey) of Northville, Michigan. Five grandchildren: Rachel Tillman of Laguna Hills, California, Hope Tillman of Indianapolis, Indiana, Connor Smith (wife, Sarah) of Livonia, Michigan, Jacob Smith of Northville, Michigan, and Emma Smith of Northville, Michigan and four great-granchildren: Alexandria, Rhys and Joshua Wilcoxen, and Colton Tillman of Indianapolis, Indiana. Also surviving is his sister, Nola Smith Parker of Indianapolis, his niece, LuAnn Gilmore, and his two nephews, Kurt Parker and Wayne Parker.

Celebration of Life service will be held Friday, March 24, 2023, 11am (visitation at 10am) at McAuley and Wallace Mortuary, 902 N. Harbor Blvd, Fullerton, California 92832, with Pastor Leah Stout, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, officiating. Burial will follow at Loma Vista Memorial Park, 701 East Bastanchury Road, Fullerton, California 92835.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Dale Arlen Smith Scholarship in Aeronautics and Astronautics, connect.purdue.edu/InMemoryofDaleSmith.