Dale Glen Heiberg

Dale Heiberg passed away Thursday, May 9, around 6:15PM. He had a stroke a week or so ago and had difficulty swallowing. Fluid got in his lungs and caused pneumonia, making a bad situation with declining health worse.

It wasn't sudden. More like the end of a roller coaster ride as you pull into the station and come to a slow stop. Disappointment that it’s over is the operative word. It's been difficult this last year. Watching the man we knew slowly disappear with dementia. The man I knew danced, built things, fished, drank beer, played golf and had an opinion on nearly everything.

Dale was born in Dagmar Montana, May 3, 1924, the middle child of Chris and Agnes Heiberg. He was of good Nordic stock, and his dad had been a barrel chested lumberjack in the great Northwest Woods. They moved and took to farming. It was a hard but honest life. He didn’t quite finish High School. Instead he took a local job. He was a welder in a Navy shipyard and at the tender age of 17 enlisted in the Navy and became an Electricians Mate second class. He was on a destroyer in the North Atlantic during WWII. His ship's captain lost a coin toss and missed a chance to berth in a shipyard in New York and instead came to Houston's Brown Shipyards.

He won the "anchor pool" when they docked in Houston and threw a wild party at the Rice Hotel for 3 days after sending money home to his mom. With no money left they flipped another coin. His buddy George wanted to go to the USO. Dale wanted to go back to the Ship. He lost the toss and won the girl. They met at the USO. He wouldn't let her out of his sight....even after he got pushed in the pool. He danced in his soaking wet dress blue wool uniform. He wasn't going to let that one dance away. Turns out she made a pretty good mother to the four of us kids. She of all people has watched over him this most difficult last year....tending to his every need....right to the end.

Dad always regretted not finishing high school so he got his high school equivalent and went on to college by attending night classes at the University of Houston coming just a few hours shy of having a degree before life’s priorities finished that endeavor.

In between working full time, attending college part time, and working odd jobs on weekends, he managed to also find time to be a trail rider in the Salt Grass Trail every year. He was an outrider and the wagon cook. One year his crew took first place and he won a beautiful Winchester 30/30 which he displayed proudly. People loved his apple pancakes on the trail. One day he noticed the usual breakfast bunch was thinning. He got a clue why when he overheard someone say, “I don’t care if they’re gritty I’m gonna eat ‘em till my teeth wear down to the nub”. Seems that trail dust found its way into the flour but no one wanted to mention it.

There are many things that Dale leaves behind where he made a difference. He built a fine second home in Bolivar on weekends over several years while working full time at Schlumberger. It’s stood through many storms and even stood up to Hurricane Ike although it took a pretty good beating. He doubled the size of our house on Buena Vista near Gulfgate Mall as the family grew. He helped others build homes and barns and he wired houses on the weekends to make a little extra money so we could live better. But mostly he built a family. He taught them what integrity was. He taught them to do things. To do what’s right as well as what needed to be done. Perseverance against the odds and what it means to have your name and your word stand for something.

One of the hardest things in his life was the loss of our sister Pattie who died of cancer in 1997. A parent should never have to bury a child. It hit him hard and for many years he continued to remember to tend to her gravesite after the rest of us had moved on.

Mom and the remainder of us “Kids” had our chance to say goodbye the day he died. We told him it was ok to let go. That we would take it from here. He listened and took our advice. May he rest in peace

Tribute donations in lieu of flowers can go to www.alz.org