Delmer "Dale" Henry Hamilton

Delmer “Dale” Henry Hamilton, age 97, passed away peacefully on July 14, 2026 in hospice care at his home in Larkspur, Colorado surrounded by family. There are not enough words to describe this man: loyal, honest, kind, loving, strong, incredibly smart, a thinker, innovative, and a dry wit until the end.

Born February 8, 1929 in the Ozarks in Summersville, Missouri, to Delmer “Del” and Melba Hamilton, Dale grew up with his three siblings in California, Missouri where he graduated high school in 1946.

Dale was a World War II veteran who entered the Navy in June 1946 as a 17-year-old but was discharged a short time later because of a medical issue requiring surgery. His desire to serve never left him and once healed, he joined the Army Air Corps/Air Force in October 1947. He was stationed at Wheeler Army Airfield, Schofield Barracks, and Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu, Hawaii, waiting to ship out for the Korean War. He was injured while tying down aircraft during a hurricane and spent a month at Tripler Hospital in Honolulu. In addition to his assignments in Hawaii, he was stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming; Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico; Moses Lake Air Force Base, Washington; and Larson Air Force Base, Washington. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force in November 1951. Although he did not serve long, he was very proud of the time he spent in the military.

Dale earned a civil engineering degree in 1956 from the University of Missouri in Columbia and went on to become a professional engineer and land surveyor. He was licensed as a professional engineer in Missouri, Colorado, and Texas, and as a professional land surveyor in Colorado, Wyoming, and Missouri. As a college student, he spent the summers of 1953 and 1954 in Alaska working for the Alaska Highway Department out of Glennallen. His crew’s assignment was to survey a route for a road from the Alaska Highway to Cordova, a small community accessible only by air or boat. He kept a journal of these adventures and turned it into a book, Milepost 71 on the Copper River Highway. The road was never built.

His engineering and surveying career in Colorado took the family to Aurora, Leadville, Fairplay, Parker, Franktown, Westcliffe, and Larkspur. From 1960 to 1964, Dale worked as an engineer for the City of Aurora, eventually becoming the City Engineer. One of the projects he was most proud of was his work as Assistant Engineering Manager for the Homestake Project, a two-year joint-venture transmountain water diversion project between Aurora and Colorado Springs that diverted water from the west slope of the Rocky Mountains to the two cities through a system of tunnels, reservoirs, pipelines, and pump stations. In 1964, he started his own consulting engineering practice, Hamilton Enterprises, focusing on land development. His subdivision projects included The Pinery, Hidden Village, Russellville, Deerfield, and Bannockburn in Douglas County, along with projects in Kiowa County, Breckenridge, and Missouri. He was elected as Douglas County Surveyor and served from January 2011 until January 2015. He once said he had surveyed more than 700,000 acres in his career in Colorado.

Dale met his lifelong love, Ruth Isabel Hamilton (née Turner), in Denver, Colorado, in August 1959, and they married on December 8, 1959, in Kensal, North Dakota. Together they raised two daughters in Colorado. Dale was an active member of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Castle Rock, Colorado. An avid golfer, he out drove most men into his late 80s. Dale and Ruth were members of The Pinery in the early years and Perry Park in later years, both in Colorado.

Dale was preceded in death by his parents; his oldest sister, Lavern; and his younger brother, Lawrence.

Dale is survived by his wife of nearly 67 years, Ruth; his daughters, Rita Dorward (and husband Alan) of Shreveport, Louisiana, and Lori Dumler (and husband Steve) of Castle Rock, Colorado; two grandchildren, Holly Dorward (and fiancé Christian Hall) of Shreveport and Heidi Seba (née Dorward, and husband Andrew) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; three step-grandchildren, Alexandria Quackenbush (and husband Brian) of New Braunfels, Texas, Ashley Dumler of New Braunfels, and Anthoney Dumler (and wife Amanda) of Palm Bay, Florida; five step-great-grandchildren; his beloved older sister, Nadine McKissick of Lyndon, Kansas; and numerous nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Dale’s memory to Epiphany Lutheran Church in Castle Rock, Colorado.