John Dale Wilson

Dale leaves his wife and soulmate of almost 42 years, Sheri (Atkinson) Wilson; his daughter, Lauren Hilary Wilson; his son, John Byron Wilson and his wife Kendra Brant; his grandchild John Ashton Wilson; his beloved greyhound Shamrock and grandpups Lucas, Marco and Bailey; and many close friends and family.

Dale was born in Odessa, Texas on August 16, 1952, the son of John Columbus Wilson and Willa Mae LeBouef, and upon his father taking a job in the oil and gas industry with Lane Wells (later Dresser Atlas), he quickly become a Houston, Texas resident before the age of one.

In his early years, Dale lived in the Garden Villas neighborhood near Hobby Airport and attended Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic School. The Wilson family then relocated to the Memorial area where Dale attended Westchester High school. Upon graduating in 1970, he attended then University of Houston, graduating in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. In 1974, he met his wife and the love of his life, Sheri Atkinson, where he worked part time as a veterinarian technician at Memorial Town & Country Animal Clinic. Sheri had just recently moved to Houston with her family from her hometown of Corpus Christi. She came into the animal clinic with her mother and her cat and Dale was immediately smitten by her. Shortly thereafter, Sheri traveled to Europe for a month and a half and Dale and her fell in love through letters. They got engaged on November 11, 1974 and were married on August 2, 1975 on the campus of University of Houston in its Chapel.

Upon college graduation, Dale began work with his father at the then Dresser Atlas, which is now a part of Halliburton. Shortly thereafter, Dale's father started his own company specializing in Measuring and Controlling Devices and named it MADA Devices in honor of his wife, Mae, and his son, Dale. Dale joined the company and worked alongside his father until his retirement, and eventually took over the company.

Dale had a huge passion for the arts. He was an avid writer; even wrote numerous screenplays and poetry. He thoroughly enjoyed going to the library and bringing home stacks of books to read, as well as collecting books that he often reread several times. In addition, music was a huge part of Dale's life He even had a band in high school called Flyght where he sang vocals. Flyght managed to even have a single played on Houston radio. You could often find him at home playing DJ with his extensive record album collection on evenings. On Saturdays, you could find Dale watching his favorite college football teams, University of Houston and Louisiana State University, amongst other big contenders. He also loved watching the Indy 500 every Memorial Day weekend. He not only enjoyed his time with his family, but also loved his time with his dogs. He always made sure to give money annually to the Greyhound Pets of America in honor of his favorite dog breed. His dogs were a big part of his life and always made him smile.

In keeping with his great spirit, Dale's family is requesting everyone to wear their favorite shade of blue to the funeral service, which will be held at 2:00 pm on Friday, June 2 in the chapel of Waltrip Funeral Directors located at 1415 Campbell Rd. with a post celebration of life party at Los Tios Mexican Restaurant in Memorial at 14006 Memorial Dr. near his childhood home. Dale always enjoyed a party and good conversation and would want everyone to be celebrating his life.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to The Kidney Project, https://secure-web.cisco.com/1HFUXbwPYa9OnSKt8sXqgZ0AqnwyB1QEWsYWu-S_6I4x1gWAcK5At__M4JegN4FBrzi6oFz28mecXKPMHlElyPXtnAFX1hcu5RyCYBf2Izz34J5LOdJy8_30X-efdm7WQCtp22KDfsiozwblakjhQ4DcTM3ZQ2_khXfYeqSK9DFUcdhSvQdHAevZxPnGARi4QjFfzGucZnGk6XFGCjQC4byrn-4eFe45pMLqE1q2i70YvsG7CX6ZI3Olw4-5jylqAeXW--WWeIz_b1XtkLNmiww/https%3A%2F%2Fpharm.ucsf.edu%2Fkidney,

which is a long term effort to engineer an implantable artificial kidney to improve the lives of patients with renal failure,

in honor of John Dale Wilson's name.

For more information and to make a donation, please visit: http://secure-web.cisco.com/1hI6R9K_MtWk9WkOdJxcSKMpXIRbYheUGJqMPt49Afg-2puFo5wtc4WsNXojaKAApyjw6Giq8YPoRvoe7N5i10FYx1oBhmpXBNKqE2mM0P88UMQK-dlaBrxJMawoOsmJ_e2L0RRy3_ajcpM5vVlbUVH8SthXp-iMvGcX98P2IfKbilme3aQxIeWfAQ550CuIk3vVYyzrv7ooWIrNHW2vXfTx5bYi3B0E2ykunWn8LMQqxzdNIzZvABpSmARVSCMbQo-XNlbQrToF47vi4kXxyCQ/http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F1HswESE.