E. Dale Wharton

1924 - 2016

E. Dale Wharton obituary, 1924-2016, Lombard, IL

BORN

1924

DIED

2016

E. Wharton Obituary

E. dale Wharton

Born: June 24, 1924

Died: August 2, 2016

Dale Wharton, who lived with Helen, his beloved wife of nearly sixty-five years, at Lombard's Beacon Hill Senior Living Community passed away suddenly on Tuesday, August 2.

Born June 24, 1924 in South Bend, Indiana, Dale was the second of six children of William and Mildred Wharton. Raised on a farm with three brothers and two sisters, he left to serve the latter part of the Second World War as a clerk and chaplain's assistant in the U.S. Army's 56th Signal Battalion, which supported the combat operations in the Ardennes, the Rhineland, and the Central European theater. He was discharged honorably as a Technician 5th Grade (Tech Corporal).

After his return and thanks to the GI Bill, he attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in chemical engineering. In 1951, while working for Bowser Briggs Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Dale met and married Helen Hochriem of Chicago - she proposed to him, and he said, "Okay."

The first of their three sons, Mark, now of Glen Ellyn, was born in Fort Wayne in 1954. In 1957 the family moved to Elmhurst, where they attended for many years St. Peter's United Church of Christ. There they had two more sons: in 1957, Bill, now of Needham, MA, and, in 1960, Jim, now of Naperville.

With the move to the Chicago area Dale began a career at Kelburn Engineering, an Edison Park firm that represented Gulf and Western and other electrical control manufacturers in the tri-state area around Chicago and in southern California. Within a decade he became a partner in that company, where his career spanned over thirty years. At Kelburn Dale supervised the back room repairmen and other workers. The genuine interest he took in them, their families, and their interests earned him the respect and regard of all who worked with and for him.

Throughout his adult life Dale was an avid and talented musician. Possessed of perfect pitch and a lovely baritone voice, for many years he sang with the West Towns Barbershop Chorus. He also continued to play the piano and organ, which he had mastered in his younger years. Members of The Courts in Elmhurst often saw Dale playing tennis (usually doubles) through the 1970s and 80s and into the 1990s. Dale also was a fine amateur jeweler and embroiderer - his needlepoints decorate the homes of his sons and other relatives. A skilled woodworker and carpenter, he built his first home in Fort Wayne himself, erected a garage at his first home in Elmhurst, and, with his sons, built a vacation home overlooking the Sugar River in New Glarus, Wisconsin in 1974.

His sons' marriages in the 1980s brought him seven grandchildren, all of whom adored their doting grandfather. Whether taking them fishing at Oak Brook's MacDonald's campus, playing ping-pong, or bringing them to his community garden plot in Elmhurst, he loved sharing activities with his two grandsons and five granddaughters.

Helen and Dale left Elmhurst in 2008, living for two years at the Oak Brook Club, and then, after a 2010 move, at Lombard's Beacon Hill. There neighbors and staff loved him for his easygoing, friendly, and generous temperament. Throughout his life he humbly and cheerfully helped others, always ready to take on whatever jobs needed to be done. He remained active at Beacon Hill, proving a crackerjack Wii bowler and golfer, playing piano for residents, singing, woodworking, and playing in the chimes ensemble.

Dale passed away after being stricken the day after a Wharton family reunion weekend, when he and Helen took great delight in reconnecting with two or his four living siblings and fifty nephews, nieces, children, and grandchildren. Surrounded by his sons, wife, granddaughters, and daughters-in-law in his final twenty-four hours at Good Samaritan Hospital, he passed away quietly and peacefully.

There will be a memorial service on Saturday, September 17th, at Beacon Hill, 2400 South Finley Road, Lombard, IL at 10:00am.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations in Dale's name to either the Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE at www.cureepilepsy.org) or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (www.cff.org) to help combat two diseases that have affected members of Dales extended family.

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - Greater Illinois Chapter, 150 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1550, Chicago, IL 60601

CURE, 430 W. Erie, Suite 210, Chicago, IL 60654

(Please note on checks or online donations that the gift is in memory of E. Dale Wharton.)

Published by Suburban Life Publications on Aug. 12, 2016.
34465541-95D0-45B0-BEEB-B9E0361A315A

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Memorial Events
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Sep

17

Memorial service

10:00 a.m.

Beacon Hill

2400 South Finley Road, Lombard, IL

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