Dale Ashbridge
September 3, 1937 - April 10, 2024
Obituary
Dale passed away unexpectedly April 10, 2024, during an angioplasty procedure at St. Joseph hospital in Tacoma, WA. He was born September 3, 1937, in Eugene, Oregon to Archie and Helen Ashbridge joining 3-year-old brother Larry. He was devoted to and loved his family—his wife Ida of 64 1/2 years, Sons—Tyler and Reid, Daughter-in-law Helena, Grandchildren—Max, Scarlett, and Delilah. And sister-in-law Wilma and six nieces and nephews and cousins.
He grew up in Cottage Grove, OR during the 50’s. His childhood was very happy. Whenever his family could get away, they joined his aunts, uncles, and cousins to go camping in central Oregon at Little Cultus Lake. Thus grew his love for the outdoors!
He began early to be independent and delivered newspapers, picked beans, and washed windows to earn money for school clothing and special things like an American Flyer Train we still have!!! In high school, he was shy but popular. His career ideas began to develop in high school when he was elected Treasurer of the ASB. In his senior year, he asked Ida Hiatt to attend a football game with him in Springfield. They dated through senior year and college.
After High School graduation, he worked many jobs in the timber industry to earn money to attend Oregon State University majoring in engineering. He excelled in ROTC and was selected for the Silver Wings honor drill team. After one-and-one-half years, his money ran out, he went back to work. During his years at Oregon State, he dated Ida, and they had very fond memories of those times.
In March 1959 he asked her to marry him. On September 26, 1959, they were married and 6 months later he was drafted into the Army. His basic training was at Ft. Ord, CA. His first deployment was in Wilmington, Ohio on a Nike Missile Base, but only for 5 months. Then deployed to Korea for 13 months. While there he worked as a Supply Specialist. During that time, he was awarded a special honor Pacific Area Soldier of the Month Award…After returning home he served several years in the National Guard.
Again, he worked and saved money to return to college. He attended the University of Oregon and enrolled in day and evening classes and worked whenever possible at Bohemia Lumber Co. Those were grueling years. But he graduated in June with a B.S. degree in Business and Accounting.
The next day he began his career at Weyerhaeuser in the accounting department at Coos Bay, OR. A new chapter began. A home was purchased, and Tyler was born.
Four years later he was promoted and transferred to Springfield, OR. It was great to live near families again. Second son Reid was born. But in 1976 Dale was transferred to Federal Way, WA.
During the early years in Federal Way, he was very active in coaching boys’ soccer and basketball teams. He also enjoyed building projects so for many years he worked on remodeling the house.
In the 1990’s arthritis that was prevalent in the family began to affect his hip…No more jogging and physical fitness training he enjoyed so much. That is until his first hip replacement surgery during his 50’s. His goal was to complete the STP (Seattle to Portland 200 mile bike ride). He and Tyler completed the event with flying colors! Speaking of flying, during Dale’s lifetime he had eight joint replacements, and he was referred to in his orthopedist’s office as the “Frequent Flyer” and again his determination to succeed showed how well he worked to recover from all those surgeries.
Dale also found working for Habitat for Humanity very rewarding. He was elected the first president for the South King County HFH Affiliate and was instrumental in acquiring 6 1/2 acres from Weyerhaeuser for building sites plus numerous other contributions. He also served as President of the HFH support group to raise funds statewide. In 1998 he was a lead for the Weyerhaeuser Blitz Build in Houston, TX. During the Blitz Build, 100 houses were built in one week. He also met Jimmy Carter every morning working three houses away from the Weyerhaeuser build.
After 30 plus years working at Weyerhaeuser, he retired and discovered a new way of life! Travel—first a motor home to spend time in Arizona and escape the rainy winters then to Australia, Europe, and several trips to the Mideast.
He also had a strong faith in God and served many years at Steel Lake Presbyterian church on Session and used his financial skills while serving on the Stewardship Commission and building the new church addition. Family was also a very important part of his life. He was a devoted father and a patient loving husband.
One of his greatest qualities was…he did not have much to say, but when he did speak, he had something worthwhile to say and was always able to turn a negative situation into a positive result.
Burial with Military Honors will be at Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent, Washington.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Habitat for Humanity: 560 Naches Avenue SW Suite 110., Renton, WA 98057