Dale Houseman

Dale Houseman, age 73, passed away on December 22, 2016 at his home in Valdez, Alaska. He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan the second of four children. He is survived by his brothers David and Scott, and sister Laurie and many devoted friends. Dale grew up in a house in the woods built by his bricklayer father, Reo and schoolteacher mother, MaryBelle. He took great pride and pleasure in having helped his father build the house and its landscape. He attended a one-room school in his early years, graduated high school in 1961, from Michigan State University in 1969 with a B.S. in psychology and the University of Detroit Dental School in 1972 with support from his first ex-wife Suzie.

After graduating from MSU and before dental school, he was a police officer for the cities of Flint and Lansing in Michigan. After dental school he established a dental practice with his second ex-wife Madeline. Finding the remote reaches of Michigan’s upper peninsula too settled, Dale realized a life-long dream and moved to Alaska, first to Wasilla and finally to Valdez where he was known as the town’s kindest dentist. Dale, known to some as Doc, or just “H” would care for patients who had little or no means, accepting eggs and other items as payments for his services.

Dale learned to hunt and trap as a young man. He was very much a man of action, was his own man, and had a unique generosity. Dale saw the world through his own lens and was true to that vision. He could be both frustrating and endearing. An eternal optimist with a Tom Sawyer personality, he acted without reserve on his ideas of adventure, sometimes to the great consternation, and sometimes to the great enjoyment, of friends and family. He enjoyed rafting the Copper and Forty Mile rivers, and traveling the world from South America to Africa and the Middle East. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, his life spared by chance from a burst appendix only a week after he returned. That was consistent with his life; he always seemed to come out just fine in a life filled with interesting turns. He will be missed by many.