Dale James Reese, 71, slipped away in the early evening of December 2, 2021, in the ICU of Giesinger Wyoming Valley Hospital after spending just a little over three weeks on a ventilator due to the devastating effects of COVID-19. He never knew that he also had pancreatic cancer.
Born November 19, 1950, on his great-grandmother's (Isabella Davies Reese Harwood) 64th birthday, he and his twin brother were her retirement present.
They also had a second great-grandmother, Lucy (Campbell) Lidy, which was unusual in 1950.
Family was important to Dale and his brothers, and so was community service for all three. He was a past president of the Lidy-Larnerd Family Reunion Committee. Dale was a lifelong member of the Bethel United Methodist Church of Avoca, PA, and was a lay leader, church treasurer, and delegate to the Wyoming (now Susquehanna) Conference. He also
performed duties as usher, and assisted with the communion rituals. In addition, he set-up and managed their Thursday food drives. It is in those duties that he will be most missed. The church building had been built by his great-grandfather, Henry P. Shales, of the firm Shales and Dommermuth in 1891. Both ancestral families, the Shales and the Lidys, were in the ‘Valley’ since before 1810.
His first few years of education were in the No. 1 school at Avoca. The family moved to west Falls in September 1961, where Dale graduated from the 8th grade of the Exeter Township two room schoolhouse in 1964. He continued to West Pittston High School. He attended Wyoming Area High School, graduating in 1968, where he was equipment manager for both the basketball and baseball teams, and lettered in track as a senior. His record for the 100-yard dash was retired when the district converted to the metric lengths. After school, he continued being active in sports including the Avoca Softball League and the Greater Pittston Softball League well into his 30's. Dale was an active bowler since the late 1970’s and served on the Board of Directors of the Wyoming Valley Bowling Association, and as an auditor for them and their successors. He could often be found practicing at many of the local establishments from Carbondale to Nanticoke and Shadow Brook to Pocono Summit, but of late considered Elko's in Dupont as his home lanes. Dale maintained a 200 plus average in many leagues over the years and threw nearly three dozen perfect games.
Dale's first employment was as a carrier for the Times-Leader as he and his twin brother shared the route in west Falls. He attended Penn State University at High Acres campus (Hazleton) in 1968, and transferred to State College in Fall of 1969, but came back to Wilkes-Barre in 1970 where he earned a degree in Radio Broadcast Management. He was on the staff at campus stations WDFM and WHAY. Dale later obtained certification as an electronics technician from PennCo Tech in Bristol, PA.
Employed by the Bell telephone Company, first in Directory at Wilkes-Barre, he moved through the ranks, retiring as a switchman at Carbondale after over 30 years of service. Not satisfied with such an early retirement, he invested his pension in Arterial Lanes in Gloversville, NY, with three business partners.
Survivors are his father Harry J. Reese, Falls, and his twin brother, Richard M. and his wife, Fran of Etters.
He was predeceased by his mother, Thelma D. (nee Lidy) in 2015, and his younger brother Mark, on November 9th this year.
Funeral Services will be held at 4:30 PM on Saturday, December 18, at Kiesinger Funeral Services, 255 McAlpine St., Duryea. Visitation will be from 3:00 to 4:30PM. Burial will be in Mountain View cemetery, Harding, with joint services for his brother Mark, at 1 PM.