Dallas McDonald Stoller

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Thank you, Thank you kindly.  Our dad would have said that to you when, and if you had the opportunity to see him or spend time with him.  Our dad was highly motivated, very talented, positive, kind, extremely handsome, honest and so personable. 

Dallas Stoller, born April 10, 1933 in Progress Township, Wells County, North Dakota.  His parents were Walter J. Stoller and Emma Lucille Radke.  Dallas was the sixth of eight children.  Dad told us many times that they got indoor plumbing when he was 17 years old.  That may have been why Dad loved the shower and he was a fanatic about everyone washing their hands.  What we experience as a child definitely has effects on us as adults. 

Dad played football in high school but he said he was too short for basketball.  Dad also participated in some plays.  His Junior Year he was in the play titled “Aunt Cathie’s Cat”.  Our dad played the part of Bill Pryor.  Our dad sang in the Trinity Lutheran Choir; not because he had a great voice, but because he could socialize; he loved it!  Dallas graduated from Paul High School on May 24, 1951.  Our dad always bragged about being in the top ten of his graduating class.  We still laugh because there were only ten students in his graduating class!  The Class Motto was Onward and Upward On the Road to Success.  Dad was a Paul Panther and loved it.  Our dad lived that motto well; he along with our mother lived an onward and upward life. 

Dallas served in the United States Army in 1954.  He was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska.  He would tell you that it was some of the most beautiful county God ever made.  Our dad loved Alaska, second to Idaho.  He enjoyed spending time in Yuma, Arizona with our mom.  They spent seven winters in Yuma, making friends with everyone they met.  Our mom loved the water aerobics outside and our dad loved carving figurines, and making new friends.  Our dad could make friends easily.  Dad was the conversationalist and our mom the listener.  Dad and mom also traveled to Germany, France and spent time in Mexico.

Dallas married Sandra (Sandy) Rogers on November 10, 1956 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Rupert.  Our dad was generous with his time and energy at the church.  We look back and our dad never preached or lectured his faith, he modeled it.  Our parents and many of their children and grandchildren went on a cruise to celebrate their 50th anniversary.  Dad loved the endless fresh shrimp and soft serve ice-cream.  Our parents were married 63 years.  

Our dad was married to the best cook and sweet maker of all time.  He would tell you, “I loved everything that she made.  His favorites were roast beef, fried chicken, potatoes and gravy, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cabbage salad.  Our mom canned the best pears and sweet cherries known to man.  Dad loved mom’s raisin filled cookies, banana cream, lemon meringue, cherry and apple pies too.  Not that food was his life; he used to say, “Food is essential, so it is best if it is good and your mom was the best at making and baking it!”  Oh yea, our dad loved milk.  We are talking gallons, and gallons of milk.  He would put a junior in high school to shame for the amount of milk he consumed.  If you are in the dairy industry, we would encourage you to cut production by half. 

Following serving in the army our dad returned to Paul and he farmed.  Dad farmed when farming 200 acres was considered a large farm.  If we took our dad for a drive in the last three years, he was still able to identify some of the homesteads.  Our dad worked for the Minidoka County Highway District building roads in the summer months and plowing roads in the winter.  Dad retired from the Highway District after 21 years.  He loved driving big rigs, rather it be a gravel truck or his big pick-up, he loved vehicles that you had to use steps to climb into.  We have to mention that dad had a love for Mercury cars.  He believed they were the best cars ever made.

Our dad had a knack about being able to do a lot of things really well.  Our dad and mom were both equally motivated, enthusiastic and charitable.  If you did not know that, you did not know them.  They raised amazing gardens.  Our parents produced the best tasty home-grown chickens.  Our dad was a carver.  He made it very clear he was not a whittler.  In the hobby industry there is a very distinct difference between these two crafts.  Dad craved beautiful figures out of ordinary wood, he painted lots of landscapes and he loved to take pictures.  Our dad and mom made dozens of beautiful denim tied quilts.  When the quilts were finished and ready for the bed, they weighted at least ten pounds apiece.   

Our dad and mom owned and operated “J Diamond Carriage Shop; Wheelwright, Buggy Building, Repair & Restoration”.  Dad was a wheelwright, and a very good one.  He repaired or built hundreds of wagon wheels.  Dad was able to build or restore anything with wheels to runners.   He built Doctor Buggies, Wedding Wagons, Surreys, Covered Wagons, Christmas Sleighs and Beer Wagons.  Both dad and mom built the most amazing wagons; they were a wagon building team.   Dad went on a Centennial Covered Wagon Cattle Drive in Montana in the fall of 1989.  Dad drove the horses and he repaired wheels along the way.  Dad, Mom, and other friends went on a Covered Wagon adventure in Idaho in 1992.  Dad said that he loved both experiences.  Dad and mom donated their last Concord wagon to the Minidoka County Museum in June 2020.  He rode in the Concord wagon drawn by a team of horses in the Rupert July 4, 2020 Parade.  The Dallas and Sandy Stoller Concord wagon will be available for years to come for the community to enjoy and admire.  

Our dad made more than 28 solid oak Uncle Gus chairs.  Dad made dozens of children’s rocking chairs.  Our dad and mom gave them all away.  Dad loved to build from wagons to chairs.  Our dad was a wondrous woodworker.  Dad said hundreds of times, “I couldn’t have done any of these projects without Sandy.  She helped with whatever I needed or was doing.”   Our dad and mom would decide on a project and they did it together; planting, growing, picking, canning, sewing, crafting, building, repairing and giving to others.  It was the two of them together that resulted in their goals being completed.

Dad helped to orchestrate the 4th of July parade entries for the Trinity Lutheran Church.  He built floats and or wagons for the 4th of July parade for many years.  Dad rebuilt the 1620 May Flower Ship to scale and had it one year in the parade.  Our dad called it his prairie ship.  The 1620 Mayflower replica was donated and is on display at Immanuel Lutheran School in Twin Falls.   Both of our parents loved participating in the Highway clean-up crew representing the Trinity Lutheran Church and walking in the annual CROP Walk.  Probably their favorite contribution was working at the opening work weekend every May at Camp Perkins; the most amazing church camp on earth.  As with our mom we would ask the following; If you want to contribute to their legacy donate in our fathers’ name Dalla M. Stoller, Camp Perkins, HC 64 box 9384 Ketchum, Idaho 83340, Phone 208-788-0897. 

Our dad was so greatly loved by our mom.  We probably did not realize how much he loved her unconditionally until she passed.  However, we know that our mom knew this.  Dad loved our mom beyond words.  If you have had the experience of being unconditionally loved like our parents, consider yourself one of the lucky ones!

Our mom Sandy Stoller died on July 6th, 2020.  One of the saddest days on Mother Earth.  The next saddest day July 22nd, 2023 when our dad past.  Our dad gave our mom this card on November 10, 2014.  The card reads, “Happy Anniversary to My Precious Wife,  The sweet fragrance of yesterday’s blessings, the warm assurance of tomorrow’s love, and the abundant joys I find in you every single day.  Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us…1 John 3:1 This love God has given me in you makes the world so beautiful!  With All My Love on Our Special Day and Always!  Our father penned the following, “I Love you Sandy, Thanks for all the great years and all the good times.  With all my Love for 58 years, Dallas.

We would like to say “thank you” to the wonderful caregivers who cared for and loved our dad.

Christie, he loved you so much.  Christie you are a great cook and he loved everything you made.  You were never scared.  You learned and knew all of our dad’s hilarious quirks.  Christie, you were a true gift to our dad. 

Leilani, how did we find you?  You were excellent with our dad.   You took our dad on drives and he loved that.  When you cooked the house smelled delicious; like mom and dad’s old home.  You were so kind and interested in dad. 

Alexes, you always greeted our dad with “Hi Dallas”.  He always responded with; I was hoping that you were coming.  Alexes could get dad to do just about anything.  Dad was seen driving through the City of Burley wearing the coolest sunglasses ever!  Alexes was driving the car!  Dad loved eating biscuits and gravy with you and the boys.

Hudson, you were exceptional; kind, helpful and so talented in caring for dad.  Your grandpa loved you beyond words. 

Barbara was our dad’s Hospice Nurse.  You were kind, knowledgeable and amazing.  You gave our dad outstanding care in his home.  Kippy and Sonia you were both fantastic with our dad.  Dan, you sang and brought our dad an abundance of “Joy!”  If you were to ask our dad, “How Many Kings” our dad would say One!  We are fortunate to be saved by the Grace of our Lord.   

Our mother Sandy lived vicariously through so many people while we cared for our dad at home.  Dad was safe, cared for, and greatly loved by so many individuals.

Our family, our community and our world have lost two bright stars in the passing of our parents Dallas & Sandy.  They both brought light and warmth to so many people.  They lived the Thrivent moto of “Live Generously” better than anyone we have ever known.

Our dad is survived by his five daughters:  Tammy Ingram (Ken Dick), Lisa (Dan) Klamm, Nancy (Robert) Kunau, Claudia (Daron) Garner, & Colleen (Hector) Parkin.  Mom and dad loved all of their grandchildren; Candace (Jeremy) Ennis, Jennifer (Travis) Ingram, Riley (Tifni Dockter) Ingram, Jeff (Katie) Klamm, Andy Klamm, Hudson Kunau, Greyson Garner, Madeline Mae Garner (Casey) Knudsen, Chelsey (Brant) Ball, & Ethan (Eryn) Parkin.  They have six great grandchildren; Conner & Ben Ingram; Ellie, Briggs, Ava Ball & David Scott Ennis.  Our dad is survived by one brother Walter (Diane) Stoller of Somers, Montana.

Our dad was proceeded in death by his wife Sandy Stoller, his parents Walter “Shorty” and Emma Stoller, three sisters, Joan Jarvis, Esther Cameron and France Strausser, and three brothers Dale Stoller, Wesley Stoller, and Jerry Stoller and his son-in-law Ralph Ingram. 

When you left our moms presence, she would always end the visit with Thank you, Thank you.  If you were leaving our dad, or you had done something for him, he always said, “Thank you, Thank you kindly”.  Those words of genuine kindness will be so greatly missed.  We encourage you to practice using those five words. After 90 years of life, those words served our dad very well, and they will bring you a sense of gratitude and joy every time you use them. Arrangements are under Joel Heward Hansen Mortuary

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