Jimmie Wayne Dale, 77 passed away on December 28, 2020. He was born in his family home in Arkansas City, KS on September 17, 1943, the ninth of eleven children. The doctor noted “He’s a fine boy, if it wasn’t for his little foot.”
At 8 years old, and after 2 operations on his foot, he made the decision to have a portion of his right leg amputated. He looked forward to being able to play baseball after the surgery. In Junior High, he was known to hide one of his prosthetic legs behind a curtain when his younger nieces and nephews were playing hide-and-seek to scare them!
During school, his favorite subject was arithmetic. He graduated high school in 1961 and went on to get a Bachelor of Business Administration at Wichita State University in 1971.
In 1964, he began working at Fourth National Bank. He went on to become the youngest vice president at Fourth National up to that time. He was also instrumental in bringing the first ATM’s to Wichita, KS. In the early 80’s, he started working at Systematics, first as a manager of Data Processing for banks and later handling Data Conversions and Acquisitions. Systematics was later acquired by Alltel, which led to Jimmie moving to Charlotte, NC. After retiring, he moved back to Wichita. He made many friends through work and kept in touch with several of those friends after he retired.
In 1963, Jimmie married Sandy Nigh and later became a devoted and loving father to three daughters: Suzanne, Teresa and Darcy. Suzanne was the first born and was born with special needs. Suzanne spent most of her life in care homes but Jimmie visited her regularly for as long as he was able.
Teresa graduated from KU and moved to Seattle but remained close with her father. She has two children, Aidan and Kiera Linder.
Darcy began living with Jimmie when she was 11 years old and remains in Wichita.
In 1989 Jimmie married his second wife, Jeanne. His girls remember him being very happy during this time of his life. After three short years of marriage, Jeanne passed away.
Both Teresa and Darcy remember their dad as being the first person they went to with news, or for advice. They also remember his humor. Two of the “dad” jokes that stick out are when they’d ask “You know what, dad?” and he’d reply “No, but I know his brother Who.” and when they drove to Arkansas City to visit family they’d pass by a round barn and he’d say “Did you ever hear about the guy who died in there? He was trying to find a corner to pee in.”
Jimmie’s family and friends remember having a lot of laughs with him and that he was a great guy with a big heart. He is loved and missed by many.
