Orlo Dwight Dahl

Published 2:28 pm Wednesday, September 12, 2018

March 21, 1926 – August 12, 2018

Orlo D. Dahl passed away on August 12, in Eugene, at the age of 92, surrounded by family members.

Orlo was born in Webster, South Dakota, on March 21, 1926. His parents, Mervin and Marie Dahl, moved to Oregon with Orlo and his sister, Ardys, at Christmas time in 1937, and Mervin started working at the First National Bank of Eugene.

Orlo graduated from Eugene High School in 1944. He worked for a short period with a fire suppression crew for the Eastern Lane State Department of Forestry out of Toledo, Oregon. After serving in the Army Air Corps, he returned to Eugene to attend the University of Oregon. Orlo was active in college activities, including serving as treasurer of the Glee Club.

Prior to graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, he met Donna Jean Casperson. They married on December 19, 1948, and enjoyed 62 amazing years together. Orlo worked for McDonald Candy Company before going to work for E.C. Goodlin Piano Store. It was there that he acquired an appreciation for pianos and organs, which led to Orlo and Donna owning and operating Dahl’s Pianos and Organs for many years. After selling the business in the early 1970s, Orlo worked as a real estate broker and eventually retired from Automotive Paints and Industrial in 1989. He was active in Jaycees and Kiwanis and participated in the Eugene Chamber of Commerce.

After retiring, Orlo and Donna moved to Redmond, Oregon, in 1990 so that Orlo could live out his dream of living in this big-sky country. He continued to be a member of the Kiwanis Club and served on both the board of the Central Oregon Council on Aging and the Redmond Community Concert Association. He also volunteered for Meals on Wheels. The couple were members of Zion Lutheran Church in Redmond and former members of Central Lutheran Church in Eugene.

Orlo loved people and loved Oregon. He enjoyed traveling back roads and seeing what was around the next bend. He and Donna provided their children with wonderful experiences of camping, swimming, boating and water skiing with their gang of friends and family. The couple loved to dance and play cards. Orlo was a hard-working and hard-playing man who was always giving to others and making sure that everyone around him was comfortable and having a good time. Some of his favorite times were spent camping and hunting with family and friends, working on player pianos, garage selling and collecting, beating his grandchildren in games of croquet, happy hours on his deck, and hot tubbing under the stars. He and Donna traveled extensively throughout the western United States the Midwest (often in their Airstream), to Maui, and also abroad to Portugal, Liberia, Kenya and the Seychelles Islands.

Most of all, Orlo loved his wife and family. His life provided an example to them of the values of honesty, treating others with respect, enjoying life, and “rolling with the punches.” Orlo is survived by three children and their spouses, Bruce and Ruth Dahl and Julie and Billy Lindros of Eugene, and Lori and Jerry Capps of Coos Bay; grandchildren Eric and Chereena Dahl and Jessica Dahl of Eugene, Amber and Joshua Chang of Portland, Shahne and Landon Lopez of Cottage Grove, and Kyle Lindros of Everett, Washington. He treasured his four great-grandchildren and seven nieces and nephews.

Orlo is preceded in death by his wife, Donna Dahl; parents, Mervin and Marie Dahl; and sister, Ardys Ringsdorf.

A service and celebration of life will be held in the future in Eugene. The family is especially grateful for the loving care of the staff of Nature’s Way Foster Home and of Sacred Heart Hospice.

Orlo would often say to family when they were departing, “Keep it on the curves.” His family now wishes him the same.