Dale Riley Stockam

Dale Riley Stockam, 87, of Salt Lake City, passed away Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at the VA Hospital in Salt Lake City. He was born January 19, 1936, two minutes after his twin brother Gale, in Rittenhouse, Arizona to the late Charles Reno Stockam and Ada Evelyn Hardee Stockam.

Dale was the tenth child of eleven. He spent his childhood years in Arizona, near Queen Creek. He learned to be a hard worker while picking cotton and working on the family dairy farm.

Gale and Dale were inseparable. They were identical twins and best friends. They enjoyed riding their horses, exploring the desert, fishing, deer hunting, and spending time with their large family. They both joined the U.S. Navy in 1955. Dale worked hard and became a Chief Petty Officer, and retired after 20 years of working as a jet mechanic. He was known for his mechanical abilities and was able to fix anything. If he couldn’t fix it, you might as well throw it away. And he didn’t throw much away.

His sisters Joy, Adell, and Zita introduced him to Beverly Ann Bullock. They were married on January 10, 1958.

After retiring from the U.S. Navy, Dale moved to a ranch near Uniontown, where he built his own house with the help of his wife and daughters. He enjoyed raising cattle, raising goats, and training horses. He worked at Bekaert Steel & Wire as a mechanic, and retired for a second time in 2001.

Dale enjoyed searching his family roots. Dale and Gale took many field trips with their wives to several states to search for records firsthand. One of his goals was to place gravestones on all of the unmarked graves of his ancestors. Even though Dale was not a member, he worked in the Family History Center for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He helped other people find their roots.

Dale also served as a volunteer in the Fleet Reserve Association and in the Republican Party of Crawford County. He appreciated his many Navy friends and often went to Navy reunions with his wife, and after her death, he attended the reunions with his daughters. These annual reunions were the highlight of his year.

Dale had good neighbors and kind friends, including his friends at the Cedarville Senior Center. His daughters appreciated their acceptance and support over the last three years.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Beverly; all of his siblings, Noble, Grand, Calvin, Adell, Joe and Joy, Buckie, Jerry, his twin Gale, and Zita; and three grandsons, Matthew Muir, Jeffrey Muir, and Scott Rachal.

He is survived by three devoted daughters, Ada Melody (Kenneth Rachal) of Mena, Arkansas, Bonita Jo (Robert Muir) of Dallas, Texas, and Deanna (Martin Caringella) of Pleasant Grove, Utah; fourteen grandchildren, and twenty-two great-grandchildren.

Graveside service will be 11:00 a.m. Saturday, December 2, 2023 at Morrison Cemetery, near Rudy, Arkansas, under the direction of Edwards Van-Alma Funeral Home of Van Buren, AR. Dale will be laid to rest next to his wife and his brother. Viewing will 30 minutes prior to the service at the cemetery.