Duane K. Dahl was known to three generations of South Bay school children as the Ice Cream Man, died in San Jose. He was 69.
Mr. Dahl delivered the week's supply of ice cream and milk to dozens of schools from Palo Alto to Gilroy for 36 years. His white refrigeration truck was always a welcome site to thousands f children. "They called him the Ice Cream Man" said his wife, Mildred. Ice cream delivery was a natural line of work for Mr. Dahl, a full-blooded Norwegian from farm country near Ames, Iowa, His father, Andrew Dahl, ran a cream delivery route.
Kenneth dropped out of school in the 10th grade to help support his family during the tail end of the Depression. He and his brothers helped their father pick up the cream from dairy farms and rush it to creameries, where it would be bottled or churned into butter.
As a teenager, Kenneth entertained with his guitar and singing. His band, the Rocky Mountain Ramblers, performed on the radio in San Jose. In June 1944, Kenneth joined the Army. After boot camp in Florida, he was sent to Gibraltar. He landed in Marseilles, France and went north, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. There, his feet froze and he was sent to a hospital in England for treatment of frostbite. Circulation in his feet was poor for the rest of his life, his wife said.
He came back to Ames on leave in July 1945, and made a stop at the grocery store where he used to work. There, he met the young Mildred Atkinson, who was working behind the counter. "He was wearing his uniform," recalled his wife.
It must have been love at first site, because they married 3 months later. "I didn't want anyone else to get him" she said.
Mr. Dahl mustered out of the Army in December 1945. They had five children. In Iowa, he was a butcher and ran a milk delivery route. The family moved to Campbell, CA in 1951 and then to south San Jose where the lived the remainder of their lives. Kenneth worked as a switchman for the SP railroad many years. In 1959 he started his dairy business, Dahl Dairy Delivery. Today, his company delivers Berkeley Farm products.
He retired in 1993, selling his business to his daughter and her husband, but he continued to make deliveries until his cancer diagnosis in Nov. 1994.
Despite his busy work schedule, Kenneth always made time for his family. When his children were in school, he helped the PTA clubs at the Alum Rock and Franklin-McKinley school districts in San Jose raise money by providing ice cream, which the clubs sold. He had barbucues all summer long. "People would come for miles to eat his barbecued turkey," Mildred said. "And of course we had family gatherings, he'd bring ice cream."
______________________________________________________
Mr. Dahl delivered the week's supply of ice cream and milk to dozens of schools from Palo Alto to Gilroy for 36 years. His white refrigeration truck was always a welcome site to thousands f children. "They called him the Ice Cream Man" said his wife, Mildred. Ice cream delivery was a natural line of work for Mr. Dahl, a full-blooded Norwegian from farm country near Ames, Iowa, His father, Andrew Dahl, ran a cream delivery route.
Kenneth dropped out of school in the 10th grade to help support his family during the tail end of the Depression. He and his brothers helped their father pick up the cream from dairy farms and rush it to creameries, where it would be bottled or churned into butter.
As a teenager, Kenneth entertained with his guitar and singing. His band, the Rocky Mountain Ramblers, performed on the radio in San Jose. In June 1944, Kenneth joined the Army. After boot camp in Florida, he was sent to Gibraltar. He landed in Marseilles, France and went north, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. There, his feet froze and he was sent to a hospital in England for treatment of frostbite. Circulation in his feet was poor for the rest of his life, his wife said.
He came back to Ames on leave in July 1945, and made a stop at the grocery store where he used to work. There, he met the young Mildred Atkinson, who was working behind the counter. "He was wearing his uniform," recalled his wife.
It must have been love at first site, because they married 3 months later. "I didn't want anyone else to get him" she said.
Mr. Dahl mustered out of the Army in December 1945. They had five children. In Iowa, he was a butcher and ran a milk delivery route. The family moved to Campbell, CA in 1951 and then to south San Jose where the lived the remainder of their lives. Kenneth worked as a switchman for the SP railroad many years. In 1959 he started his dairy business, Dahl Dairy Delivery. Today, his company delivers Berkeley Farm products.
He retired in 1993, selling his business to his daughter and her husband, but he continued to make deliveries until his cancer diagnosis in Nov. 1994.
Despite his busy work schedule, Kenneth always made time for his family. When his children were in school, he helped the PTA clubs at the Alum Rock and Franklin-McKinley school districts in San Jose raise money by providing ice cream, which the clubs sold. He had barbucues all summer long. "People would come for miles to eat his barbecued turkey," Mildred said. "And of course we had family gatherings, he'd bring ice cream."
______________________________________________________
Duane K. Dahl was known to three generations of South Bay school children as the Ice Cream Man, died in San Jose. He was 69.
Mr. Dahl delivered the week's supply of ice cream and milk to dozens of schools from Palo Alto to Gilroy for 36 years. His white refrigeration truck was always a welcome site to thousands f children. "They called him the Ice Cream Man" said his wife, Mildred. Ice cream delivery was a natural line of work for Mr. Dahl, a full-blooded Norwegian from farm country near Ames, Iowa, His father, Andrew Dahl, ran a cream delivery route.
Kenneth dropped out of school in the 10th grade to help support his family during the tail end of the Depression. He and his brothers helped their father pick up the cream from dairy farms and rush it to creameries, where it would be bottled or churned into butter.
As a teenager, Kenneth entertained with his guitar and singing. His band, the Rocky Mountain Ramblers, performed on the radio in San Jose. In June 1944, Kenneth joined the Army. After boot camp in Florida, he was sent to Gibraltar. He landed in Marseilles, France and went north, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. There, his feet froze and he was sent to a hospital in England for treatment of frostbite. Circulation in his feet was poor for the rest of his life, his wife said.
He came back to Ames on leave in July 1945, and made a stop at the grocery store where he used to work. There, he met the young Mildred Atkinson, who was working behind the counter. "He was wearing his uniform," recalled his wife.
It must have been love at first site, because they married 3 months later. "I didn't want anyone else to get him" she said.
Mr. Dahl mustered out of the Army in December 1945. They had five children. In Iowa, he was a butcher and ran a milk delivery route. The family moved to Campbell, CA in 1951 and then to south San Jose where the lived the remainder of their lives. Kenneth worked as a switchman for the SP railroad many years. In 1959 he started his dairy business, Dahl Dairy Delivery. Today, his company delivers Berkeley Farm products.
He retired in 1993, selling his business to his daughter and her husband, but he continued to make deliveries until his cancer diagnosis in Nov. 1994.
Despite his busy work schedule, Kenneth always made time for his family. When his children were in school, he helped the PTA clubs at the Alum Rock and Franklin-McKinley school districts in San Jose raise money by providing ice cream, which the clubs sold. He had barbucues all summer long. "People would come for miles to eat his barbecued turkey," Mildred said. "And of course we had family gatherings, he'd bring ice cream."
______________________________________________________
Mr. Dahl delivered the week's supply of ice cream and milk to dozens of schools from Palo Alto to Gilroy for 36 years. His white refrigeration truck was always a welcome site to thousands f children. "They called him the Ice Cream Man" said his wife, Mildred. Ice cream delivery was a natural line of work for Mr. Dahl, a full-blooded Norwegian from farm country near Ames, Iowa, His father, Andrew Dahl, ran a cream delivery route.
Kenneth dropped out of school in the 10th grade to help support his family during the tail end of the Depression. He and his brothers helped their father pick up the cream from dairy farms and rush it to creameries, where it would be bottled or churned into butter.
As a teenager, Kenneth entertained with his guitar and singing. His band, the Rocky Mountain Ramblers, performed on the radio in San Jose. In June 1944, Kenneth joined the Army. After boot camp in Florida, he was sent to Gibraltar. He landed in Marseilles, France and went north, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. There, his feet froze and he was sent to a hospital in England for treatment of frostbite. Circulation in his feet was poor for the rest of his life, his wife said.
He came back to Ames on leave in July 1945, and made a stop at the grocery store where he used to work. There, he met the young Mildred Atkinson, who was working behind the counter. "He was wearing his uniform," recalled his wife.
It must have been love at first site, because they married 3 months later. "I didn't want anyone else to get him" she said.
Mr. Dahl mustered out of the Army in December 1945. They had five children. In Iowa, he was a butcher and ran a milk delivery route. The family moved to Campbell, CA in 1951 and then to south San Jose where the lived the remainder of their lives. Kenneth worked as a switchman for the SP railroad many years. In 1959 he started his dairy business, Dahl Dairy Delivery. Today, his company delivers Berkeley Farm products.
He retired in 1993, selling his business to his daughter and her husband, but he continued to make deliveries until his cancer diagnosis in Nov. 1994.
Despite his busy work schedule, Kenneth always made time for his family. When his children were in school, he helped the PTA clubs at the Alum Rock and Franklin-McKinley school districts in San Jose raise money by providing ice cream, which the clubs sold. He had barbucues all summer long. "People would come for miles to eat his barbecued turkey," Mildred said. "And of course we had family gatherings, he'd bring ice cream."
______________________________________________________
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
