Posted by Stan Bacon on March 24, 2023:

Dale and I were classmates, Company I-2 mates and roommates our senior/1st Class year at West Point. Dale was President of the Cadet Radio Club that year and to the best of my knowledge he was the only cadet authorized to be out of his room after Taps. In the wee hours he would climb to the fifth floor of the 49th Division, fire up their ham radio and talk to hams around the world as K5JIC as his call sign, the more distant the other party, the more points he scored. He had a long standing love affair with instruments of communications. A s a kid in the Panama Canal Zone, one of his stunts was to get on the military phone system connecting the installations on either side of the isthmus, dial the other side, get a dial tone, dial back to his side, get a dial tone, back and forth through 23 iterations until the whole system was shut down until he decided to hang up. What a sense of control! Needless to say, I was a bit concerned that upon graduation he was commissioned Signal Corps. However, he went on to enjoy great success, rising from Signal Platoon Leader to managing the highest levels of the Army�s communication systems. Dale and I didn�t cross paths again until we both arrived in Austin in 1981. From my perspective as we renewed our friendship, he had at least five focuses in life, the first being his love for his family. Not far below that were his computers, several running at home simultaneously with screens completely covered with icons. He was in constant contact with likeminded enthusiasts around the country involved in resolving the latest Microsoft glitches. He organized and participated in computer clubs and went out of his way to help numerous friends and neighbors keep their computers running--his way of showing affection. He taught college computer courses, and as an aside he ran the Class Prostate Cancer Support Group�s website, our Company I-2�s website, the website for the 2015 Class Reunion we hosted here in Austin, and maybe others. He had a passion and a nose for finding bargains, discounts and freebies, anywhere. He knew where they all were--at Fry�s, the Dollar Store or wherever. Another of Dale�s passions was his love for the Spanish language and its culture. He and Betty were posted to Madrid, Spain for three years. They were fluent in Spanish and loved every minute of it. Until recently, they hosted Spanish language seminars in their home. And lastly, Dale knew how to get on the outside of a good meal. He was my go to computer guru for close to 40 years, and whenever he came down to set up a new computer or clean up an old one, I would take him to a nice restaurant for lunch. His favorite was the Estancia Brazilian Steakhouse in the Arboretum. He would fill a plate from the huge salad bar, eat that then turn his tag over from green to red and guys with long skewers with different meats would converge on him and fill another plate for him and he would go at it, occasionally adding a cut or two, drinking red wine and engaging in conversation the whole time. It gave me great pleasure to watch. Dale, we�re really going to miss you, guy--your friendship, your affection, your puns, and your skills. Be happy, eat well and keep all those computers running up there.

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