Dennis Dake
Education
BA, Upper Iowa University, 1966
MA, University of Northern Iowa, 1969
Dennis was born on April 9, 1942 in Oelwein, Iowa to parents Myron C. and Charlotte M. Dake. In 1943, he moved with his family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa His earliest recollections were of the home in Cedar Rapids and waiting at the front door for his father to come home from World War II.
The family then moved to Garrison, Iowa where he started school. About the only thing he remembered about this school was the teacher warming milk on the hot water heating radiator. Some time during this school year he cut his knee on a piece of broken field tile. The family moved to Eldora, Iowa, in Nov. 1949 where he was in the second grade. During that same school year the family moved to Belle Plaine, Iowa and later to Lamont, Iowa. So he attended three different schools during this year. The only things he remembers from living in Eldora were relative to Christmas. He wanted a cowboy doll for Christmas and there was a little debate in the family if he should be playing with dolls. He also remembers receiving an electric train for Christmas. He only slightly remembers going to school in Belle Plaine. He believes he remembers a fire at the house in Belle Plaine.
In 1950, the family moved to Lamont, Iowa and lived in a house in the block behind the main street. His parents purchased a grocery store in Lamont. A short time later the family moved to a second home. While living in this second home Dennis remembers several things: His brother Bob being born. Building an ice fort in the front lawn. Buying a little bottle of perfume for a girl he has a crush on (Georgia Helms). Fighting with the Wessel kids from down the block. A bum that lived in a small shack in the field behind the home. The large ditch by the railroad tracks being flooded and kids cutting a 55 gallon drum in half and using it as a boat. At school an old picture of Washington crossing the Delaware River. Old steam engines coming through town with the smoke bellowing from the smoke stack.
The family then moved to a third residence in Lamont. Dennis remembered the following while living in this house: Being locked out of the house by the baby sitter. The family having a dog named Daisy. Watching his parents play Santa Claus on Christmas eve through a grate in the bedroom floor. Burying milk bottle caps which resembled coins in a treasure chest below the bridge near the house. Participating in Christmas pageant in school. He always wanted to be one of the main charters in the play but never got the opportunity. He also remember the Corkery sisters who where teachers in grade school. His friend Richard Grapes taking apart his desk in homeroom until it finally fell apart.
The family moved to a fourth residence in Lamont. Some of Dennis's memories from this home are: Taking out an old oil burning furnace stove and tearing out an arched door way into the dinning room. Sleeping in unheated back room on bunk beds. Purchasing a reel to reel tape recorder which he used to exchange tapes with a tape pal in England. Playing with puppets and magic tricks and putting on plays for neighbor kids. Playing the Cornet in the school band. Raised rabbits for an FFA school project. Some of the rabbits froze to death and others were butchered by his father to sell in the store. He belonged to the school science club "the Up and Atoms". Took Physics class with brother Maurice. He entered a weather station in the school science fair. Going to Waterloo, Iowa for band festivals. Mr. Stanley (principle nicknamed "Gopher") who used to hit students in the back of the head with chalk board erasers when you did a problem incorrectly on the blackboard. Mrs. Heiserman teaching him drawing perspective (his first interest in Art). The big study hall in High School where punishment was to pick up paper scraps from the floor and kids would save all of their paper to throw on the floor until after you had passed. School library located on an old stage in the front of the study hall. Sports pep rallies on the cold stone steps in the gym. Playing in Pep Band for basketball games. I remember a Sock Hop that didn't come off too well at school. Ice Cream Socials at the Methodist Church where he had to turn the crank on the ice cream maker by hand. He received an outstanding award as paper carrier from the Cedar Rapids Gazette. He was the Lamont representative to Boys State at Camp Dodge in Des Moines. This was his first visit to see the state capital. He has a copy of the Lamont Leader that has an account of his experience at Boys State.
In his Senior year of high school he decided to buy a motor scooter. He went to Oelwein, Iowa and purchased the bike and on the way home on a country road he got caught in the middle of a herd of long horn steers which had broken through a fence. A hoof of a steer got caught under the front fender of the motor scooter and threw him off. He received many cuts but no broken bones and ended up staying in the hospital for a couple weeks. He graduated from Lamont Community High School in 1960. During the first summer after graduation he worked at Newmans Department store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, decorating displays in the store window. That fall he entered Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa During this school year he lived on $10 per week and mainly lived on peanut butter sandwiches. The first semester he commuted from Lamont but after ending up in the ditch one day due to icy roads he moved in with a friend where he lived through the second semester. When school was out in 1961 he joined the Air Force and went to Lackland AFB for basic training. During his stay at Lackland he saw his brother Maurice who was just finishing basic training. After basic training he stayed at Lackland for another four weeks to receive basic medical training at the base hospital. He then was transferred to Gunter AFB, Montgomery, Alabama, where he was trained in Preventative Medicine. While stationed in Alabama he had his first experience with segregation. He saw drinking fountains and rest rooms for black people and could not go off base with a black Airman. (This was just prior to the restaurants boycotts in the South). He stayed at Gunter AFB for 8 weeks of training, leaving in the Fall of 1961.
After technical training school he went home on leave. He was given orders to go over seas but on his way to McGuire AFB his train got stuck in a snow storm and he almost missed the flight to England. He was next stationed at Sculthorpe AFB in Sculthorpe, England. While in England he met his future wife Ann Shackloth. In Dec. 1961 he was transferred to Weisbaden AFB, Germany. In June of 1963 he returned to England to marry Ann Shackloth on June 29, 1963 in the Church of England at Sculthorpe, Norfolk, England. He and his new wife stayed in Germany through the remainder of his enlistment, Dec. 1964 and traveled throughout Europe. While in the Service he worked at an Environmental Laboratory doing air and water sampling. He also had to sample fruit and pastry from the local town and had to interview other airman who got Venereal Disease. His son Dwight was born in June 1964 on the Air Force base.
DENNIS AND DOROTHY DAKE
When he returned from the service for a short period of time he and his family lived in a trailer which was parked next to his parents home in Lamont, Iowa He then returned to Upper Iowa University and completed his Bachelors degree in Art in August 1966. (He graduated Cum Laude). He then attended the University of Northern Iowa at Cedar Falls, Iowa during the 1966 - 1967 school year. He was a Student Teacher at West High School in Davenport, Iowa between 1967 and 1970. In August of 1969 he received his MA in Art from University of Northern Iowa. His daughter Melonie was born in January 1969 at St. Lukes in Davenport, Iowa. From 1970 through 1971, he taught at Merry Crest College in Davenport, Iowa. In 1971 he received an appointment as Assistant Professor of Art at Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa. From 1973 to 1974, he was the President of Art Educators of Iowa. In 1975 he became an Associate Professor of Art at Iowa State University and was assigned the duties of Art Education Coordinator for Iowa State University and later became a full Professor.
In November 1982 he was divorced from Ann Shackloth. In 1984 - 1985 he was President of Visual Literary Association of Iowa. On April 25, 1985 he married a second time to Dorothy Smith. He retired as Professor of Art at Iowa State University in 2009 and continues to live in the Ames, IA area.
