Dale Douglas Bardo

FARMINGTON – Dale Douglas Bardo died peacefully at his home in Farmington, on Sept. 1, 2024, in the company and care of his wife Rina, and daughters Leslie and Alisa.

Dale was born March 29, 1941, in Staples, Minn., son of Gerald and Jane Towler Bardo. When Dale was 8 months old, his family moved to Lusk, Wyo. when his father took over management of the local newspaper, the Lusk Herald. His years in Lusk, Wyo. were filled with scouting, hiking in the Breaks, north of Lusk, visiting the ranches of family friends, and playing the French Horn and Cornet in the school band. Dale worked as a printer’s apprentice for seven years before graduating from Niobrara County High School in 1959. Even after decades living in western Maine, Dale still considered the tumbleweed and the spare, open landscape of eastern Wyoming the geography of home.

He attended Oberlin College (Oberlin, Ohio) and graduated with a B.A. in 1963. He then attended Western Reserve University Medical School (Cleveland, Ohio) and earned his M.D. degree in 1967. Following a one-year rotating internship at Hennepin County General Hospital (Minneapolis, Minn.), he served as a general medical officer at the 5010th Hospital, Eielson Air Force Base, in Fairbanks, Alaska, from 1968 to 1970. In subsequent years, when Dale was in a storytelling mood, his time in Alaska figured prominently in his stories. When not working, he explored the Alaska wilderness and developed an appetite for cross-country skiing and mountaineering. More importantly, in September 1969, a Canadian physical therapy graduate, Maria Catharina (Rina) Traas, visited her sister, who was married to another medical officer at Eielson AFB; Dale and Rina met and started a letter-writing courtship that culminated in their marriage on Dec. 29, 1970, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In 1970 Dale returned to Minneapolis, Minn. and to Hennepin County General Hospital and worked for one year as a pediatric resident physician. He and Rina moved in June 1971 to Portland where Dale worked as a general surgery resident at Maine Medical Center from 1971-1975. While living in Portland, Dale and Rina welcomed daughter Alisa in 1973; daughter Leslie was born in 1976.

Although he had planned to return to the west after completing his surgical training, in summer 1975, Dale established a private practice in Wilton. Dale’s arrival in Wilton coincided with the closing of Camp Kineowatha and an auction of the camp’s equipment; heavy traffic for the auction meant that a police escort was needed in order for the moving truck to reach the family’s new home on High Street. Fittingly, Kineowatha Park became a fixture of family life, with daily swimming in the summer, soccer in the fall, and cross-country skiing on snowmobile trails in the winter.

In addition to his private practice in Wilton, Dale joined the medical staff at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, and practiced as a general surgeon from 1975 until his retirement in 2006. He is consistently remembered, whether by fellow physicians, nurses, or laboratory personnel (many of whom were also his patients or family members of patients), as unflappable, kind, meticulous, and a doctor for whom the patient was always the first priority. A man of few words, when he did speak, whether in medical staff meetings or church meetings, Dale conveyed that what he had to say was worthy of one’s attention.

Outside the operating room, Dale gravitated toward activities that, like surgery, involved the use of his hands. An avid woodworker, he built multiple pieces of furniture, most of them presented as homemade Christmas gifts. Each spring in the front yard of their Wilton home, he and Rina cut, split, and stacked firewood for the next winter’s fuel. In 2009, after more than 30 years of renovating, improving and maintaining their 100-year-old home in Wilton, Dale and Rina designed and were actively involved in the building of their retirement home in Farmington. When his daughters entered adulthood and established homes of their own, Dale preferred to visit when he could be put to work on a building or home repair project.

For many years Dale was an active member of the Wilton United Methodist Church, where he served in many roles; for the past 20 years he and Rina have been active members of Old South Congregational Church in Farmington, where he served for a number of years as treasurer and property trustee. He also served as treasurer for the Care and Share Food Closet in Farmington.

Dale is survived by his wife of 53 years, Rina; daughter, Alisa Bardo-Martinson, her husband Andy Martinson, and their children, Phoebe and Peter of Minneapolis, Minn.; daughter, Leslie Geissinger, her husband Ben, and their sons Abrahm and Samuel of Jay; and sister, Lucy Bardo Harms and her husband Ben Harms of New Marlboro, Mass.

A service of worship and celebration of Dale’s life will be held on Sunday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m., at Old South Church in Farmington.

Memories may be shared in Dale’s Book of Memories at http://www.wilesrc.com. Honored to be caring for the family of Dale Bardo is Wiles Remembrance Center of Farmington.

In lieu of flowers,

please consider

memorial donations to

Care and Share

Food Closet,

P.O. Box 38

W Farmington, ME 04938 or

Habitat for Humanity,

322 West Lamar St.,

Americus, GA 31709