Dr. Dale Garrels

Dr. Dale E. Garrels, 70, of Mt. Pleasant, IA, died Sunday, July 23, 2006, at the Parkview Home in Wayland, IA. Celebration of Life Services will be held on Wednesday, July 26, 2006, at 10:30 a.m., at the First United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant, with the Rev. Dr. Edward R. Peterson and the Rev. Pat Youngquist officiating. Burial will be in the Memorial Lawn Cemetery in Ottumwa, IA. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, July 25, 2006, beginning after 12:00 noon, at the Olson - Powell Memorial Chapel, 709 Mapleleaf Drive in Mt. Pleasant, where the family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday evening. In lieu of flowers, memorials have been established to the First United Methodist Church or to Iowa Wesleyan College in his memory. Born August 2, 1935, in Ottumwa, IA, Dale was the son of Cecil and Edith Zepp Garrels of Packwood, IA. He graduated from Packwood High School in 1953. On November 14, 1953, he married Beverly E. Stehl in Packwood. Dale was a 1956 graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College and a 1961 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry. He completed his Mastership of General Dentistry in 1986. Dr. Garrels practiced dentistry for 35 years in Washington and Mt. Pleasant, retiring in 1996. Dale was a member of the First United Methodist Church, where he served as the Sunday School Superintendent and taught the High School Sunday School Class. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity and Psi Omega Fraternity. He served as a board member of Delta Dental Insurance Plan of Iowa and as their Executive Director for two years. Dale was a past president of the Academy of General Dentistry of Iowa and the University of Iowa Dental Alumni Association. He was an avid pilot and was a member of the Flying Dentist Association. Dr. Garrels also served on the Board of Trustees of Iowa Wesleyan College. Dale is survived by his wife Beverly of Mt. Pleasant, IA; two daughters, Becky and her husband Scott Kauffman of Mt. Pleasant, IA, and Ellen Zanichelli of Evergreen, CO; one son, Michael Garrels and his wife Roberta of Washington, IA, and six grandchildren, Amee Kauffman, Kelly Kauffman, Lindsay Kauffman, Damien Garrels, Tyler Garrels and Chelsea Zanichelli. He is also survived by one sister, Ella May Ruppert of Washington, IA. Dale was preceded in death by his parents.