Verda Mae Dale, a long-time educator at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Hawaii, died late last month in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was 101 years old.
Dr. Dale was a native of Kansas and grew up on a cattle farm. She rode a horse to her high school, where she was the valedictorian of her graduating class. Dale went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at Kansas State University.
In 1942, Dale entered the Woman’s Army Corps and commanded a company of 500 women in Georgia. Dale was able to use the GI Bill to finance her graduate education at Cornell University. She joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in 1954 as an associate professor and extension specialist in home management. She remained on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts until 1971.
After completing work on a Ph.D. at Michigan State University, Dr. Dale was appointed chair of the department of home economics at the University of Hawaii.