father, Frank, worked at the Grundy Center light plant and his mom, Elva Penticoff Grabinski,
was a homemaker taking care of Dale and his three older brothers: Bob, Eldon and Willis. Two
years later the family was completed with the birth of Dale’s only sister, Marilyn.
After the war, the family moved to Waterloo and Dale enrolled at West Waterloo High School.
It was there that he met his wife, Joyce McKinney, and the relationship blossomed through
youth activities sponsored by the Cedar Valley Youth Fellowship. Dale accepted Christ as his
Savior as a freshman through the witnessing of two of his classmates.
Dale graduated from West Waterloo in 1951 and married Joyce on August 22, 1953. Dale
attended the University of Iowa for two years and The State Teacher’s College of Iowa for two
and graduated with honors. He received his Master’s Degree and ultimately his PhD. in Public
Administration in 1970 from the University of Iowa.
Along the way he was a teacher and guidance counselor beginning at La Porte City. In 1964 he
signed his first contract to be superintendent of schools at Keystone, Iowa and one year later
led the reorganization of four communities into the reorganized district renamed, Benton
Community Schools.
In 1971 Dale accepted the job as superintendent at the Algona district and in 1975 became
superintendent of the West Des Moines Community School District where he served until his
retirement in 1995.
Dale and Joyce had three children: Tom, Lianne and Tim and through those three were blessed
with ten grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Joyce died in 1999 and Dale was
devastated. In 2001 Dale married the second love of his life, Sally Rist, and the two were
married for over 20 years. Dale could be easily coaxed into bragging on his kids, grandkids and
great grandkids, but could be equally as enthusiastic describing the goings-on of Sally’s
offspring.
Dale was an unapologetic follower of Jesus and made sure throughout his life that all those
around him knew where he stood in his relationship with his Savior. Most recently Dale attended Hope Church and lamented his inability to attend when his health failed.
Dale was predeceased by his parents, his four siblings and his wife, Joyce. He is survived by
his three children: Tom (Deanne), Tim (Shelby) and Lianne (Kip) Wright, ten grandchildren and
five great grandchildren, his wife Sally and the Rist children, grandchildren(4) and great
grandchildren(2).
Memorial gifts may be made to:
The Care Fund at Lutheran Church of Hope
925 Jordan Creek Parkway
West Des Moines, IA 50266
Or
Methodist West Hospital
In Support of the Patient Sitter Program
1415 Woodland
Suite E200
Des Moines, IA 50309
