Dale Stover Obituary

Dale Arden Stover, 89, died peacefully on August 31, 2025, in Hood River, Oregon. He moved to Oregon in May 2024 to live closer to family.

Dale was born on a farm in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, on November 1, 1935. He received his BA from Washington University in St. Louis in 1957, a BD and STM from Andover Newton Theological School in Boston in 1961 and 1964 respectively, and a PhD in Religious Studies from McGill University in Montreal in 1967.

Dale served as a pastor to congregations in Milford, New Hampshire; Franklin Center, Quebec; and Greenbelt, Maryland. He taught religious studies at UNO from 1968 until his retirement in 2007. Beginning in 1986, he focused his research and teaching on indigenous religions, and he served as the first coordinator of the university's Native American Studies program from 1992 to 1995. For many years, he attended an annual Lakota Sun Dance in the Wakpamni Lake District of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Dale was also a member of the Women's Studies faculty, an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and a Fellow at the Center for Great Plains Studies. He was an excellent teacher who kept in touch with many of his students long after they graduated.

Dale was a lifelong activist for education, civil rights, social justice, and peace. He attended the 1963 March on Washington led by Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a member of Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha.

Dale is survived by his three children Dawn (Jay Letto), Nathan (Deanna), and Drew (Kim); his six grandchildren Benjamin (Sydney), Mariah (Shay Ioerger), Luke, Finn, Wyatt, and Leo; and many beloved nieces, nephews, friends, colleagues, and former students. He enjoyed family reunions and travels with his children and grandchildren, and he shared with them a love of hiking, camping, nature, and reading.

Memorials may be given to the Dale Stover Scholarship in Religious Studies at UNO.