Putnam, Dale Lee 1957 - 2022

PUTNAM, FUERST, SINCLAIR, FRIEDL, DIBBLE, LANGSWORTHY, MCGOVERN, HOWELL, JONES, MCVEETY

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 10/21/2022 at 15:00:39

Dale Lee Putnam, age 64, passed away October 14, 2022, at Aase Haugen Senior Services in Decorah, Iowa, following a long battle with Lewy Body dementia.

Funeral services will be held at 2pm on Saturday, October 22, 2022, at Decorah Lutheran Church with Reverend Peter Kowitz presiding.

Visitation will be at the church from 1pm until the time of service at the church on Saturday.

Livestream of the funeral service can be viewed by clicking the following link: https://youtu.be/Q94_tpp4gkM

In lieu of flowers: Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer's Association http://act.alz.org/goto/inmemoryofdale or the Decorah Community School District Foundation to form a scholarship in Dale's memory. Memorials may be mailed to 2545 Eastwood Road, Decorah, IA 52101.

Dale was born November 8, 1957, in Davenport, Iowa, to Elizabeth “Bette” (Fuerst) and Harrison “Roy” Putnam. He grew up keeping up with older sisters Margaret (“Peggy”), Patricia (“Pat”), and Charlotte (“Char”), all of whom affectionately called him “baby brother” throughout his life.

In 1976 Dale graduated from Davenport Central High School, where he played defensive tackle on the school’s football team and first base on its baseball team. He also participated in speech and debate while at Davenport Central, honing skills he would later use in the courtroom with frequent success.

A lifelong, diehard Hawkeyes fan, Dale surprised none when he decided to attend the University of Iowa in Iowa City. There he studied sociology, served as a resident assistant, and faithfully cheered on his beloved Iowa Hawkeyes football team.

Dale married Betty Sinclair on May 24, 1980, outside of Chicago, just days after graduating from the University of Iowa with a bachelor of arts degree. The couple moved to Des Moines, where Dale enrolled at Drake University Law School. A member of the school’s law review, he earned his juris doctorate in 1983, the same year he was admitted to the Iowa Bar.

Dale knew at a young age that he wanted to practice law in a small town in his home state. So when the law firm of Anderson and Wilmarth came calling, he readily accepted their offer and moved with Betty and their young daughter, Brecka, to Decorah in 1983. The couple welcomed daughters Tiffany (in 1984) and Shanna (in 1986). On August 31, 1997, Dale married Sara Friedl in Decorah; the couple welcomed daughter Madeline in 2002.

In 1987 Dale left the Anderson and Wilmarth law firm to establish the Putnam Law Office (now Putnam, Thompson, and Casper). From 1983-90, he also served as Winneshiek County Attorney.

Over the course of his 34-year law career, Dale was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit; and three U.S. District Courts—the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa and the Western District of Wisconsin. He was a longtime member of the Winneshiek County Bar Association and Iowa Bar Association. And he zealously and successfully represented clients throughout Iowa and the greater Midwest as well as Arizona, California, Florida, and Oklahoma.

Dale’s family and friends would readily attest that he had a true zest for life and lived his life outside the office as enthusiastically as he did within it. He whitewater rafted in North Carolina and ziplined in Alaska. He threw boomerangs in Australia and rode a gondola in Venice. He parasailed in Denver and played black jack and Texas Hold ‘Em into the wee hours of the morning in Las Vegas, sipping whiskey sours and more often winning than losing. Dale rode his bike across Iowa in a day (to raise funds for the Girl Scouts Camp Tahigwa) and completed half-marathons in several states, undeterred by the fact that he had far from the typical runner’s build. He loved to bike, to fish, to hunt, to play golf, and most especially to travel to Kinnick Stadium to cheer on the Iowa Hawkeyes, sing the Iowa Fight Song, and grab a “Big-Ass Turkey Leg.”

Dale devoted much time and talent to the Decorah community as well. He coached just about every sport his daughters tried, chaperoned trips for Decorah Kilties drum and bugle corps, coached the Decorah Middle School mock trial teams, and belonged to Oneota Golf and Country Club and Decorah Lutheran Church.

Perhaps Dale's biggest contribution to the wider Decorah community was helping to spearhead the building of the Freeport extension of the Trout Run Trail, a project with which he was intimately involved as a member of the Trails from Freeport (TFF) board from the project’s inception in 2010 to its completion in 2015. Funds raised by TFF also helped make possible the building of the Freeport Park Playground, opened in 2022.

In 2015, at the age of 57, Dale was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease; that diagnosis was later changed to Lewy Body dementia. He accepted the diagnosis with grace even as he focused on fighting for a cure that he knew he would never see. He sought out and participated in a clinical research trial for new dementia medication at the University of Iowa and donated his brain for research to the University of Maryland. While he was still able, he took part in local fundraisers for the Alzheimer’s Association, including, in 2017, the Trails for Dale event that raised more than $30,000 for the organization.

Of all his many accomplishments, Dale was most proud of raising his four daughters into strong, compassionate, and community-minded women who will carry on his legacy of living life to the fullest.

Dale is survived by his wife, Sara Friedl-Putnam; four daughters, Rebecca Putnam, Tiffany Putnam, Shanna (Andrew) Putnam Dibble, and Madeline Putnam, all of Decorah; and five grandchildren, Hope Putnam, Anthony Putnam, Felipe Putnam, Andria Dibble, and Putnam Dibble, also all of Decorah. He is also survived by his sisters, Margaret (Jerry) Langworthy of Grantsburg, Wisconsin; Charlotte (Steve) McGovern of Davenport; and Patricia (Larry) Howell of Davenport, as well as his sisters- and brother-in-law, Elizabeth (Doug) Jones of Lakeland, Florida; Stephan (Kathy) Friedl of Longmont, Colorado; and, Kathryn (Hugh) McVeety of Greenville, South Carolina. Additional survivors include many nieces and nephews and his former wife, Betty Putnam of Decorah.

Dale was preceded in death by his parents, Harrison and Elizabeth Putnam, and his father- and mother-in-law, Frank and Nancy Friedl.

Source: Helms Funeral Home database