William John Dahl

William Dahl passed

away peacefully, yet

unexpectedly on New

Year’s Eve. He was 79.

Born in Westhope,

North Dakota, to parents

John and Selma Dahl. He

grew up on a small farm

near Landa, ND. It was in

ND where William first

met his beloved wife,

Valerie, when they were

just kids. Although work-

ing on the farm helped

shape William into the

hardworking man he was,

it also made him dream

about a better future off

the farm. William graduat-ed from Landa High

School in 1959 and Bot-

tineau School of Forestry

in 1961. After that, Willi-

am served in the National

Guard and was stationed

at Fort Lewis in Washing-ton for 10 months, and

then at Fort Ord in Mon-

terey Bay, CA. William

married the love of his

life, Valerie Rice, on Au-

gust 10, 1963, in Landa,

ND. He then went on to

obtain his teaching

credentials from Minot

State Teacher College in

1965. He taught at Long-

fellow Elementary in

Minot, ND, before being

recruited to teach at Brad-

ley Elementary School in

Corralitos, CA. Having

been familiar with the

area from his time at Fort

Ord, William accepted the

position, packed up his

family and made the jour-

ney from North Dakota to

Watsonville, CA, where

he would remain for the

rest of his life. William

spent the majority of his

38 year teaching career at

Rio Del Mar elementary,

where he was so greatly

loved and admired by his

students, parents and col-

leagues. After retiring

from Rio Del Mar, he

went on to do home and

hospital teaching, where

he taught children recov-

ering from illness, ac-

cidents, etc. who were un-

able to attend school in

person. He retired in

2003. His natural gift of

teaching didn’t stop when

he left the classroom. He

passed on his love of

knowledge to his chil-

dren, grandchildren and

great-grandchildren.

William was a kind,

gentle man with a heart of

gold. He was easy to love

and was loved by so many

– family, friends, former

students; even strangers

couldn’t resist his infec-

tious charm and kind na-

ture. He loved people and

could carry on a conversa-tion with anyone. He had

a great sense of humor

and loved to make people

smile; even in his final

days he was still making

his nurses laugh. A nature

lover through and

through, he was happiest

outdoors – camping in

the Sierras, riding around

on his tractor, relaxing on

his deck, or just tinkering

around in his garage.

William is preceded in

death by his parents John

and Selma; his brother

Orvis; Sisters Ardelle and

Eunice; Father-in-law Em-

mard; Mother-in law Stel-

la; Brother-in-law Dale;

Sister-in-law Sharon;

Great-Grandson Marshall,

and his beloved Westie

Kenna. He is survived by

his loving wife of 57

years, Valerie; Son Kerry

(Peggy); Daughter Krista;

Granddaughters Kaila

(Matt) and Rachelle

(Tyler); Grandsons Cory,

Chris (Christina), Jamie,

Jacob, and Justin; 11

Great-Grandchildren, plus

another Great-Grand-

daughter due in May.

Due to COVID restric-

tions, no memorial service

is planned at this time. In-

stead, we ask that you

take a moment to

remember some of his

many acts of kindness,

tell a funny story you

have about him, or just re-

call a happy memory you

have of Bill. His passing

leaves a void that can nev-

er be filled; they don’t

make ’em like Bill

anymore. We will miss

him dearly.