Dale Hemphill Passes Away

The Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club sadly marked the passing Monday night of one of its illustrious members with the announcement of the death of Dale Hemphill, 72. Dale had been admitted to Overlake Hospital late last week.

Dale was president of Hemphill Consulting Engineers, where he had built up a reputation in soil and foundation investigation and design; seismic designs; slope stability studies; house damage investigation and recommendations for repair; drainage design and investigations; retaining wall and rockery design; and “anything else that touches soil or rock.” Dale was an author of technical books and the author of 20 computer programs for engineering design and analysis. His Rotary classification was Geotechnical Engineer.

Dale was born February 17, 1931, to a Methodist Minister and his wife, He grew up in Ohio where “my folks started a Mom-and-Pop restaurant and then a bakery. I drove a bakery truck at age 14 and delivered baked goods door to door with a horse and wagon.” As Dale recounted in his Member Directory statement, “I had two talents: a feature writer and school poet; and won thespian awards for acting. I was poor at math and science, so naturally I became an engineer!”

Dale moved to Pittsburgh to live with his grandparents to attend college, but the money ran out and he worked as a laborer and in a steel mill when the Korean War broke out. He entered the military into the Army Security Agency, where he monitored Russian activities. After his service, he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh on the GI Bill. He worked with engineering firms for five years before entering teaching for the next 13 years.

Dale traveled west one summer and fell in love with everything West of the Rockies; moved to Washington in 1973 and started his own business in 1975. Dale married Hellen in 1977, combining her three kids with Dale’s four, which was the beginning of their 18 grandchildren.

During his Rotary membership Dale gave a couple of programs on earthquake preparation and gave us a lecture on crawl space problems (drainage, radon, methane, fungus). He was proud that he knew how NOT to play golf, loved to shake hands with fellow Rotarians, and had a permanent smile on his face which he gave to everyone he met.

Dale joined the BBRC in February 1996. He was an active member during his 7-1/2-year membership. He was noted as an early riser and was often the first person to every weekly meeting. He took it upon himself to check out the audio visual aids for each meeting and put out the First Harvest and Scooter badges.

This past June, Chuck Barnes (R) presented Dale Hemphill with his Paul Harris Award, with wife Hellen present.

In February of this year, his illness sidelined him from regular attendance. However, he kept his contributions to the Rotary Foundation, giving him Paul Harris Fellowship membership last spring. In June, he and Hellen attended what proved to be his final Rotary meeting, to accept his Paul Harris certificate.

Dale’s sense of humor will always be remembered by those he touched. Dale Hemphill exemplified Rotary. From his first meeting, he was a true Rotarian. We will miss him deeply.

A memorial service for Dale will be held at the Bellevue Unity Church, 16330 NE 4th Street, at 3:00 p.m., Saturday. In lieu of flowers, members are asked to consider a memorial in Dale’s name to the Rotary Foundation. The BBRC will be handling contributions through its Foundation committee.