Lois Kelley
Lois enjoys reading, the outdoors (even snow) and loves kids and animals. At one point she had a hedgehog, hamster, two horses, several sheep, some chickens, a couple of cats, a turtle, four hermit crabs and a dog. Photo by Dan Kelley.
Lois (Larson) Kelley was born in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota but moved with her family when she was in second grade to a seven-mile-square ranch in Big Timber, Montana where her father raised about 2,000 head of sheep and 100 head of cattle.
Lois was the shepherd for those sheep, a job she occasionally shared with her seven siblings. To this day she is not fond of sheep.
As a young lady she dreamed of becoming a rodeo clown, but after graduating from Mount Ellis Academy in Bozeman, Montana in 1967 she took a summer job working at Glacier View Ranch in Colorado as the horse wrangler. It was there that she met her husband of almost 45 years, Dan.
She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Union College in 1972 and in 1978 their daughter Ginger was born.
Lois began teaching in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota in 1993 where she taught grades 4–8. She retired from teaching at Sioux Falls, South Dakota in June 2014 for medical reasons.
Lois is known for being able to add three-digit numbers faster than most people can add single-digit numbers. She is a very patient, loving, witty, yet soft-spoken person.
Lois still feels Christ’s calling to teach kids, so now she teaches Sabbath school whenever she can.
This article was also published in the June 2015 print edition of OUTLOOK. It was written by Jacquie Biloff, communication director for the Dakota Conference.
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Dale Eddy
Dakota Conference elementary teachers celebrate with Dale Eddy at his recent retirement party. Eddy spent his last three years teaching at Rapid City Adventist Elementary School. Photo by Loren Nelson III.
Dale Eddy, a product of Seventh-day Adventist education, was born in St. Helena, California. He was educated in a Eureka, California Adventist elementary school, graduated from Sacramento Union Adventist Academy, and then Pacific Union College.
His long teaching career started in California. From there he headed to the great state of Texas where he met the girl of his dreams, Gerrie Stevens, a graduate of Southwestern Adventist University (formerly Southwest Adventist College).
With his talented bride at his side, he accepted calls in the coming years to Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Nebraska in both elementary and secondary settings. During this time his family grew to include two daughters, Kimberly and Kristen.
Dale does not like the word retire. He says that is what one does when getting new tires for a car. Instead, he will re-rubber his tennis shoes and spend more time with friends he has made through the years, with the sports he loves, and with God. He looks forward to having no time constraints when it comes to family and will be able to travel without worrying about getting back to his job. He will continue to nurture the plants in his garden and the children around him.
This article was also published in the June 2015 print edition of OUTLOOK. It was written by Debra Darnall, head teacher at Rapid City Adventist Elementary in South Dakota and a former student of Mr. Eddy’s at Platte Valley Academy.
