Dale Lynn Stoddard passed away just short of his 84th birthday, on October 7, 2024. Dale was born on October 27,1940 as the oldest of six children born to Lynn “Doc” Stoddard and Donna Knutti Stoddard. Dale went to work at the young age of 9 helping in hay fields and tending sheep. One of his first jobs was working for the Cochran ranch in Pegram. One of the highlights of that job was helping on the cattle drive from Pegram to Lanes Creek. At the age of 12, he with a group of boys from Georgetown went to work for the Allen Ranch on the Blackfoot River. He was the youngest of those boys and the only one that had a car. Dale did many jobs as a young man. From a very young age his dad had him breaking colts and he developed a love and passion for horses that lasted a lifetime. As he grew older, he started rodeoing. He loved riding bareback horses and would hit all the summer rodeos mostly with his cousin Cal.
In 1963 Dale married Marsha West. Together they had two children. During this time Dale worked many different jobs such as Desert Land and Livestock and the Forest Service using pack horses to take bug spray into the mountains, being a skilled welder, and various ranching jobs which took his family into Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. In 1968 he decided to go to saddle school where he learned to build saddles, carve floral designs, and became a talented leather crafter. Throughout his life he continued to create many beautiful and functional things out of leather which he loved to give to his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids.
His family later settled in Georgetown where he raised paint horses and built his own drilling business. After his divorce from Marsha in 1981 Dale moved to Riverton Wyoming. There he began driving truck, hauling soda ash over South Pass. In 1985 he married Marti Lucht and continued to raise quality horses and work in his leather shop. He retired from BTI in 2005 and had many years of enjoying his hobbies and taking anyone who wanted to go on pack trips into Yellowstone, and annual trips to the NFR where he enjoyed finding handmade crafts from braided rawhide to engraved silver. He enjoyed traveling and seeing wildlife and the beauty of countryside.
Dale is survived by his two daughters Shelly (Trent) Nielson, Trinity (Justin) Skinner, and a stepson Mark (Patty) Lucht, 7 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, one brother William “Bill” Stoddard, two half-brothers, Kent Michel and Richard “Dick” Stoddard, and his wife Marti.
There will be a celebration of Dad’s life at a later date. The family would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for the wonderful care given to our dad by the staff at the Bear Lake Manor and Bear Lake Memorial Hospital.