Dale Loken

Dale Robert Loken, age 86, passed away on Saturday, July 4, 2026 at Prairie Meadows Senior Living in Kasson, MN.

 

Dale was born on June 2, 1940 to Ole and Nina (Moe) Loken in Waseca County. Dale started his education with a one room schoolhouse in rural Lemond township on County Road 7, then transferred to New Richland High School to graduate in 1958. He did not stop with his education there. Dale went on to take many classes in business and agricultural finance.

 

In 1962, Dale was introduced to the love of his life, Colleen Dassenko, at his cousin's wedding. Dale and Colleen had a wonderful courtship, which involved his future in-laws serving him a piece of blackberry pie at their first-time meeting, which had a black bug in it. Of course, it was the only slice that did! That did not slow down the two lovebirds; they were married on August 12, 1962 and settled in Lemond Township to begin their own legacy of farming and start a family.

 

Dale was very proud of his ability to read the crop markets and purchase equipment with minimal overhead. Dale would often share stories on how the local banks would be impressed when he would present cash flow data sheets to purchase land, or larger implements in the early years. Dale and Colleen were a team with farming and with all projects. Dale treated farming as a business before it was considered one. He was one of the first farmers in the area to incorporate technology with record keeping and an automatic fuel refill management system. He worked on his first-generation computer for many hours, self-teaching formulas to use in the "Quattro" spreadsheet program.

 

Dale worked for 33 years at Owatonna Tool Company, which is now Bosch of Owatonna. Due to restructuring of the OTC, he was given the opportunity to retire in 1992, which allowed him to become a full-time farmer for the first time in his life. Dale served on the Lemond township board, Planning and Zoning, Hometown Credit Union board, and several other community boards over the years.

 

Dale sold his livestock when Colleen retired from the Hometown Credit Union in January 2004. This allowed them the freedom to start traveling south for the winters. They wintered in Arizona and Texas with their 5th wheel camper. (Colleen traded for a larger travel trailer every few years.) In 2009, they bought a home in Alamo, Texas, which they enjoyed yearly from November to April. But, unfortunately, due to Colleen's decline in health in 2018, they could no longer make the trek.

 

Dale and Colleen were avid travelers. They traveled to Germany, Alaska and Caribbean cruises, took bus trips all over the US, and not to mention all the trips with the pop-up pull behind camper with their young family with them in the red truck with topper. In their later years, they were able to take a trip to Maldova to be near Colleen's father's birthplace.

 

In 2014, they moved to Owatonna from the farm. They lived there happily until Colleen's illness took her away too early from Dale in October 2020. They lived a love story of 58 years.

 

Dale was involved with male singing groups, Men of A Chord in Texas and notably, Just Friends, here in New Richland. This group of retired and nearly retired Friends went around to many local venues to sing.

 

As dementia was starting to take its hold on Dale's memories, these men were Dale's lifeline to normality. A Special Thank You goes out to all the men from Just Friends for keeping Dale active with their group and including him with their outings.