Dale Walter Piepmeier, only son of Darwin and Frances (Evans) Piepmeier, was born on September 19, 1940. He was the first incubator baby at Ellett Hospital in Appleton City. Upon returning home, Frances kept him warm in a shoebox, in the oven.
Dale grew up on north Poplar Street in Appleton City, where he formed a lifelong friendship with Don Donnohue, whose grandparents lived across the street. Dale and Don would often visit each other. Their birthdays were just 10 days apart, and they remained best friends throughout their lives.
A nearly lifelong resident of Appleton City, Dale graduated from Appleton City High School in 1958. He went on to attend Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar before returning home to work for P&M Coal Mining. He began there by planting trees on the coal dumps and then became a regular employee. When the operation closed in Appleton City, Dale went with the company to Paducah, Kentucky, and Clovis, New Mexico. Upon returning to Appleton City, Dale worked for the railroad for a year before spending 32 years at the Montrose Power Plant, later known as KCP&L and then Evergy. He retired in 1999.
On September 7, 1963, Dale married Marylyn Rapp, daughter of Carl and Paula (Leimer) Rapp. The couple would have celebrated 62 years of marriage this September. Soon after their marriage, they purchased the Bill Hearting Farm (Lonesome Pine) northeast of town, where Dale raised cattle in his spare time. Later, he acquired another property north of town, where his hunting buddy Robert Perrymann and his wife Gail helped him with the cattle
Marylyn and Dale lived in the Lindale Depot/Duplex on 5th Street for ten years, before building a new house in the West Meadows addition in 1973.
Dale was passionate about hunting and fishing. He raised and trained many hunting dogs over the years and enjoyed hunting trips to Western Kansas and South Dakota, as well as fishing trips to Canada.
Throughout these adventures, he formed lifelong friendships with fellow hunters and anglers. His favorite game to hunt was quail and pheasant.
Gardening was another hobby of Dale’s. He loved to plant it and watch it grow. Tomatoes and okra were his favorite things to eat out of the garden.
Dale had a deep love for sports, especially high school football. Every season he would bring home the team roster and try to figure out which players were the children or grandchildren of people he knew.
Dale was preceded in death by his parents, Frances and Darwin (Dob) Piepmeier; his grandparents, Walter and Maude Ouderkirk and Jessie Evans; and his Uncle Edward Kupka and his wife Kathleen (Piepmeier).
He is survived by his wife, Marylyn Piepmeier; Nicholas Yoss; his first cousins, Jim Evans, David Evans, Helen Ford, Sandra Markham, Patty Haney, and Kim Kolosick; as well as numerous other cousins.
Funeral Service was Tues., Aug. 5, 2025, at 1030 AM at Hill & Son Funeral Home, Appleton City, MO. Visitation preceded the service. Burial Appleton City Cemetery. Memorials to AC Booster Club.
