Dale Schultz Obituary

Former Durango resident the Rev. Dale Erwin Schultz died from complications of Alz-heimer's disease Saturday, Jan. 9,

2010, in Yuma, Ariz. He was 94.

The Rev. Schultz was born to Erwin and Lois (Tarr) Schultz on Nov. 10, 1915, in Boyd County, Neb. He grew up in Colome,

S.D., and graduated from Colome High School in 1932. Four years later, the Rev. Schultz graduated from Black Hills

Teachers College in Spearfish, S.D.

In August 1940, he married Ruth Neoma Ballantyne in Montana. She died of cancer in 1970 at the age of 53.

During World War II, the Rev. Schultz worked as an engineer at Lake Washington Shipyards from 1943 to 1945 and also

served in the Coast Guard from 1944 to 1945. Before his ordination, he worked in the newspaper business.

From 1940 to 1942, he was editor and publisher of Gardiner-Gateway Gazette in Gardiner, Mont. After the war, the Rev.

Schultz was editor and publisher of the Dove Creek Press from 1945 to 1948.

While attending Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Ill., the Rev. Schultz worked as a linotype operator and

proofreader.

He lived in Colorado and the Four Corners for most of his professional life. After serving his vicarage year at Trinity

Lutheran Church in Cortez in 1952, he returned to serve as a missionary-at-large, including time at St. Paul's Lutheran

Church in Durango and organizing Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Ignacio and Zion Lutheran Church in Farmington.

Upon his ordination in 1954, the Rev. Schultz served Lutheran congregations in Burlington, Stratton, Cheyenne Wells and

Flagler as well as Colby, Kan. He returned to Cortez in 1957 and organized congregations in Moab, Utah, and Page,

Ariz., as well as preaching at other churches. Until 1978, the Rev. Schultz was based at Trinity Lutheran, during which

time he filled vacancies all over the Four Corners.

In November 1973, he married Shirley Louella Lohrenz in Cortez.

In 1979, the Rev. Schultz moved to St. George, Utah, where he planted Trinity and Our Savior Lutheran churches and

Trinity Church in Cedar City, Utah.

During his decades as a pastor, the Rev. Schultz held many organizing, counseling, administrative and publishing

positions with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

He was a dedicated rock hound and arrowhead hunter. His family said he spent numerous hours looking for arrowheads in

the eastern Colorado fields right after the dust storms during his years there. The Rev. Schultz took classes in

silversmithing and jewelry-making from Navajo craftsmen and produced numerous rings, bracelets and necklaces for family

members.

While living in Utah, his family said he spent many enjoyable hours in the “shed" working with rock and producing

cabochons for jewelry.

The Rev. Schultz was preceded in death by his wife of 30 years, Ruth Schultz, and his wife of 32 years, Shirley

Schultz; daughter Margaret Corrales; and stepdaughter Wilma Heiserman.

He is survived by his daughters Neoma Schultz of Hayward, Calif., Carol Schultz of Fulton, Mo., and Gail Schultz of

Monterey, Calif.; son, David Schultz, of Melbourne, Australia; stepdaughters Jana Lohrenz of Yuma and Judy Lind of

Anchorage, Alaska; brothers Loyd Schultz of Omaha, Neb., Harlan Schultz of Yakima, Wash., and Glenn Schultz of Fort

Lauderdale, Fla.; sister Evelyn Kleinsasser of Fort Lauderdale; 15 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and 15

great-great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held in the Four Corners at a later date.