Dale Oren Kendall

Age 91, of Stillwater, MN passed away peacefully with his daughters by his side on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater.

Dale was born October 14, 1932 in Grand Rapids, MN, the third of four children to Oren and Vivian (Sherman) Kendall. He grew up in Kerr Location in Hibbing and graduated from Hibbing High School in 1951. He attended Hibbing Junior College for two years before being inducted into the U.S. Army. He served for two years, stationed mostly in Germany. Returning home late in 1955, he went to work for U.S. Steel. He spent much of his free time at his family’s Island Lake property with his brother, brothers-in-law, cousin and nephews.

On May 23, 1959, Dale was united in marriage to Mary Gail Gaugler. They spent their first few married years in Hibbing, eventually moving with their three young girls to Stillwater, where they were blessed, in time, with two more daughters. Dale took a full-time position as a guard at the MN Correctional Facility in Bayport in 1964. He found the duties a good fit for his calm demeanor and good nature and stayed on for 24 years, retiring in 1987. He later worked for Goodwill Industries, monitoring a local donation station, and then as a bus monitor for Stillwater Public Schools until his final retirement in the mid-2000s.

Dale’s greatest source of pride was his family and providing for his family. He raised his girls with love and humor. He sang to them, made them snow forts in winter and whistles from willow stalks in summer and sledded down snowy hills with them, whooping all the way. In retirement, he enjoyed gardening, reading, collecting pocket watches and hot sauces, watching Gophers sports and Vikings football, baking bread, fine-tuning his fudge-making skills and spending time with his daughters and their families.

Dale is survived by daughters Jackie (Tom) Jabens, Dorothy (Phil) Wilson, Joan (Mark) Jirik, Laurie (Steve) Hendrickson and Amy Kendall; grandchildren Kristin, Nichole, Amanda, Sarah, John and Vivian; great-grandchildren Sophia, Jacobi and Cami and numerous nephews, nieces and their families. 

Dale was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Mary; his father and mother; his father and mother-in-law Ralph and Vivian Gaugler; his siblings and their spouses Glen and Judy Kendall, Elnor and Bill Hagadorn, Iris Fisher and Dale Finney; his sisters-in-law and their spouses Nancy and Dick Bernard and Jeanne and Leonard Kopec; his granddaughter Mary Ann (Kendall) Ammons and his nephews Billy Hagadorn and James Bernard.

Dale’s family wishes to acknowledge Lakeview Hospital staff for their kind and attentive care of him in the days before his passing and the aide staff of The Willows at Oak Park Senior Living for their dutiful care of him during the time he resided there.

A Celebration of Life will take place at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, October 2, with a visitation one hour prior (10:00-11:00 a.m.) at Bradshaw Celebration of Life Center, 2800 Curve Crest Boulevard, Stillwater. Private interment is scheduled later the same day at Fort Snelling.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Parkinson’s Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Association or to the charity of donor’s choice.

Dale Kendall Livestream