Chuck Dann

Long time Oak Harbor resident and businessman, Chuck Dann, died Nov. 1, 2002, at the age of 89. His loss is felt by his three children, six grandchildren, close friends and the many lives he touched through his business and community involvement.

Charles Rowland Dann was born in Rollins, Mont., Sept. 28, 1913, to onetime Oak Harbor First Methodist minister, Reverend and Mrs. W.G.R. Dann. At the age of 10, sleeping on the running board of a 1921 Model T Ford, he accompanied his family on a cross-country trip to Boston to enable his father to obtain a master’s degree in theology at Boston College. As a minister’s son, Chuck and his brother and sister lived in seven rural Washington, Oregon and Montana towns, before graduating from Ritzville High School with straight A’s in 1930.

After graduation from Ritzville, he received an academic scholarship to DePauw University. At the height of the Great Depression, he rode the rails to and from school, and told stories of making soup from catsup and hot water, as his scholarship did not include room and board. After one year at DePauw, Chuck returned to Washington and finished his college education at Eastern Washington University receiving his degree in art education. Following graduation, Chuck taught art at Kent High School for two years.

In 1937, Chuck became superintendent of Washington Training Center for the Blind located in Seattle. The school’s charter, under Chuck’s guidance, was to provide vocational training for the visually impaired.  One of the school’s initiatives included producing hand-woven products which were sold at leading department stores throughout the United States under the name of Hand Crest.

In 1943, Chuck joined the Red Cross and served as a field director for two years at the Naval Air Station on the Aleutian Island of Attu. He made a dismal place seem like home to thousands of GI’s from the Army, Navy and Marines, organizing ski and fishing outings and arranging entertainment. He was fond of recollecting that Attu was the only land in what is now the United States to be invaded by the Japanese. Upon his return from Alaska, Chuck was recruited to head up Washington State Department for the Blind in Olympia, one of the predecessor agencies of today’s Department of Social and Health Services.

In 1948, Chuck and his wife Patricia Wade, whom he married in 1940, moved to Oak Harbor where Chuck purchased a sporting goods business, which became Chuck Dann’s Sporting Goods. During his 30 years in business, Chuck contributed to the community through his involvement in Oak Harbor Youth Athletics, Chamber of Commerce, the First United Methodist Church, Sportman’s Club, the Oak Harbor Yacht Club, the Navy League and the City of Oak Harbor Planning Commission. He sold the business and landmark building in 1978.

From 1948 to 1978, Chuck Dann’s provided the community with fishing, hunting and boating supplies and the youth of the community with baseball mitts, bicycles and letter jackets. You could display your Hope Island King out front, pay your phone bill and buy any kind of athletic shoe. Chuck Dann’s became snow ski headquarters with a weekly ski bus.

Chuck was an avid skier, hiker and traveler. His hiking and skiing companions became his closest friends. He felt he was closest to God on top of a mountain. Learning Spanish after retirement at Skagit Valley Community College, he made many trips to Mexico, adopting a village in Bodapillas and providing them with athletic equipment and funding higher education.

Chuck was preceded in death by Pat, his wife of 60 years, and is survived by his three children and their families: Wade Dann of Seattle, Linda Dann Fleming of McLean, Va., and Paul Dann of Richland. Grandchildren include Claire, Greg and Jeoff Dann in Richland; Konner Fleming of McLean, Va., Will Dann of Las Vegas, and Courtney Dann from Burlington.

A memorial service will be held at the Oak Harbor First United Methodist Church on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 4 p.m.