Retired U.S. Navy Lt. O. Dale Teaff, 83

DOVER - Retired U.S. Navy Lt. O. Dale Teaff of Dover died Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, in his home. He was 83.

Mr. Teaff was born Oct. 6, 1923, in Newark, N.J., son of the late Otha Dale Teaff and Miriam (Wood) Teaff.

He went to separate grade and high schools in six different states, graduating in 1940 from Ball High School in Galveston, Texas. He then attended two years at Palm Beach (Fla.) Junior College, followed by one year at University of Florida and one semester at the University of Miami.

Mr. Teaff enlisted in the U.S. Navy, spending Jan. 1, 1943, to May 30, 1944, at the Harvard Business School in the Navy B-11 program, and was commissioned as an ensign on Memorial Day 1944. He received orders to Naval Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, and after serving almost one year there, he was assigned to New Orleans to take a vessel to Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines. While he was awaiting ship, the war in the Pacific ended, and he was assigned to run the Officers Club in Yokosuka, Japan. Fortune intervening, he was reassigned to the Army Exchange System in the Hatori Building in downtown Tokyo as the Naval Exchange buyer for the whole Pacific, involving numerous meetings with Zaibatsu business owners. He found the basis for his favorite activity - he was a salesman. After the war, he remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve until his retirement.

In his civilian life, he held many positions, working at Dover Air Force Base, teaching in Felton and Middletown, and traveling for Dale's Sales, selling advertising and organizational pins and premiums.

Mr. Teaff was active in many organizations, including the Reserve Officers Association as president, the Del-Vets as statewide president and the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem as Prior of the Delaware. He had been a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and Kappa Sigma Fraternity, founding the Middle-Atlantic Alumni Chapter. The University of Miami named him alumnus of the year for his devotion.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Ashley (Kellam) Teaff, March 13, 1998.

He is survived by a son, Joe Teaff of Dover; two daughters and two sons-in-law, Dr. Nancy Lee Teaff and Bryon Walthall of Charlotte, N.C., and Miriam and Jude Pfister of Morristown, N.J.; a sister, Ruth Barrows of Dover; three grandchildren, Kristen Teaff of Dover and Julia Walthall and Marycait Walthall, both of Charlotte; and six caregivers, Kathy Manley of Clayton, Sophia Reindseler of Woodside, and Diann Tuttle, Renata Williams, Juanita Stroman and Tammi Miller, all of Harrington.

Services will be noon Thursday in Torbert Funeral Chapel, 61 S. Bradford St., Dover.

Burial will be in Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Bear.

Letters of condolence may be sent, and guestbook signed, at torbertfuneral.com.