Funeral services for 87-year old Dale Barker are Friday, Jan 5, 2024 at 10:30 at the First Baptist Church of Chadron with military honors.
Inurnment will follow at 2:00 at the Veterans Cemetery in Alliance, NE
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to family for designation at a later time.
Online condolences may be left at chamberlainchapel.com
Alfred “Dale” Barker was born on Sept 12, 1936 to Vernon and Ruth Barker. He passed away Dec 30, 2023 at Chadron Community Hospital.
Dale lived most of his childhood out on West Ash Creek and graduated from Crawford High School in 1954.
He then joined the Air Force and took basic training at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, TX, where he was trained as an Aircraft mechanic.
He was transferred to work on B-29s in Canada at Goose Bay, Labrador – southeast of Hudson Bay. Dale said the Northern Lights were so vivid you could occasionally hear them crackling.
After 12 months, he was transferred back to the U-S and close to home at Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, SD, where he worked on B-36s and B-52s. He was discharged in 1959 as an Airman First Class.
While in the Air Force, Dale married Marilyn Reynoldson in 1957. To this union two boys were born: Douglas James in 1959 and Cory Wayne in 1970.
Dale started working for the Chicago and North Western Railroad in 1960 and stayed with the C&NW until it was bought out in 1995 by the Union Pacific Railroad. He worked for U-P for 3 years before retiring in 1998 at age 62.
Dale enjoyed scroll-sawing, gardening, and yard work. He made many things with the scroll-saw for family, friends, and the First Baptist Church.
Dale was preceded in death by his mother, father, and sisters Romona and LaDean.
He leaves to mourn his wife of 66 years Marilyn; his sons Douglas of Portugal and Cory (Stephanie) of Bayard; grandchildren Julia of Lynnwood, WA, Ali of Portland, OR, Nicole (Tate) Coss of Palisade, NE, and Nathaniel Barker of Bayard, NE; great- grandchildren Estella Riley and Brighton Coss; and brothers Kenneth of Edgemont, SD, and Larry of Loomis, NE.
Chamberlain Chapel is in charge of arrangements for Dale Barker.