Dale T. Shutt

Dale was born February 18, 1930, to Wilbur and Anola Menges Shutt on the family farm near Sugarcreek. He was reared in the Dover, Sugarcreek and Winfield area. Dale attended Winfield Elementary School and went on to graduate from Dover High School in 1948. In high school he was a member of National Honor Society and played trombone in the band. Also, as a youth, he was active in 4-H, Grange softball, church league basketball and sang in both a barbershop and gospel quartet.

Upon graduation, Dale worked for his uncle at Ray's Sales & Service, then in the machinery and hardware departments of Garver Brothers in Strasburg. He later was employed by General Electric , Marlite and Greer Steel, all of Dover. After being laid off from all three businesses, he joined the United States Postal Service in Dover working as a carrier and supervisor. Dale transferred to the U.S.P.S. Canton Sectional Center working in various positions, including those of temporary postmaster, route inspector and clerk. He moved to Orrville in 1980 to serve as supervisor there. Dale worked a total of 20 years for the Postal Service, after which he was employed in the hardware department of Buehler's in Orrville - a job he enjoyed for the next 20 years. He retired in 2004.

When he was five years old, Dale's family moved to the Winfield area and began attending the United Brethren Church, which later became the United Methodist. In his late teens, he organized the church choir and was its director on-and-off for the next 35 years. Dale also served the church as Sunday school teacher and trustee.

In 1952, he married Mary K. Waggy, formerly of Glenville, West Virginia. The couple lived on the square in Winfield for 20 years before moving to Orrville in 1980 where they both became active in the Orrville Christian Church. Dale and Mary sang in the choir, and Dale served as Sunday school teacher and elder, while Mary served 20 years as church secretary.

Dale is survived by his four children, his twin daughters, Patricia Welsh of Waycross, Georgia, and Pamela (Dave) Schehl of Fredericktown, his son and daughter, Steve (Pam) Shutt and Cheryl (Steven) Cordts, both of Dover; his 10 grandchildren; his 15 great-grandchildren; and his nieces and nephews.

Besides his parents, Dale was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 58 years, Mary, and his siblings, Floyd W. Shutt and Anna Kathryn Gibson.

Dale will be remembered as being devout, trustworthy and having the ability to bring humor to nearly any situation. In his later years, he entertained senior groups with a program of gospel songs, jokes and inspirational stories. After Mary’s death, he moved back to the Dover area and made regular visits to nursing homes and to those who were otherwise shut-in - until his health no longer permitted him to do so. Dale was a member of the Church of New Hope on Schneider’s Crossing Road N.W. in Dover.

Family and friends are invited to call at the Toland-Herzig Funeral Home & Crematory in Dover on Friday, July 30, 6 - 8 p.m. A funeral service will be held Saturday, July 31, at 11 a.m. in the funeral home with Pastor Dan Legg officiating, assisted by Bill Shutt, Dale’s nephew of Florence, Kentucky, and his son-in-law, Steve Cordts. Immediately following the service, there will be a fellowship luncheon in the Toland-Herzig Monarch Center on the Boulevard in Dover. A private committal service will be held later in Union Hill Cemetery, Sugarcreek. To sign an online guestbook and share a fond memory of Dale, please visit the Obituaries link on the funeral home’s website.

The family suggests that contributions in Dale’s memory be made to the Friends of the Homeless of Tuscarawas County, P.O. Box 466, New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663.