Dale Fay Obituary

Columbine Valley resident Dale Howell Fay died December 9, 2024, with her daughter and son at her side.

Dale was born September 30, 1936, in Detroit, Michigan, to Edwin Boutel “Bill” Booth and the former Marion Edith Telfer. After her parents’ marriage ended in 1941, her mother married Raymond S. Howell, the man who would raise Dale as his own.

Family lore has it that Ray Howell enlisted in the Navy on December 8, 1941, so he didn’t have to sleep in a foxhole if he were drafted into the Army. Ray never shipped out during the war, but he and Marion had to leave Detroit. Marion approached her former in-laws to take in Dale to give her a stable home for the foreseeable future.

In the fall of 1945, the family reunited and moved to Annapolis, Maryland, where Ray finished his college degree at the Naval Academy with the understanding that he would make a career with the Navy. Ray was assigned to various naval installations, most notably to Newport, Rhode Island, where Dale met Robert Rushford Fay, Jr., of Evansville, Indiana. The introduction was engineered by Dale’s mother.

Dale and Bob were married in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on November 26, 1955. After mustering out of the Navy, Bob brought Dale to Evansville and joined his father in the operation of The Evansville Union Stockyards.

Dale had a brilliant artistic bent which was recognized early. She was urged to apply to the Rhode Island School of Design, but that was out of the question on a naval salary. In Evansville, she took art lessons and got into painting and “antiquing” furniture. In the early 1970s, Dale started her career in interior design.

After the stockyards sold in 1983, Bob and Dale started splitting their time between Evansville and Colorado before relocating permanently to Breckenridge in 1991. During their time there, they entertained many friends from Evansville. Family and friends participated in the Breckenridge Independence Day Parade dressed as American patriots and icons. Bob was Abraham Lincoln, and Dale was the Statue of Liberty.

One of Dale’s favorite activities was visiting the local antique malls and flea markets with her daughter and like-minded friends. She was always on the lookout for “interesting junk.”

Bob and Dale moved to Columbine Valley in 2016.

Dale was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Bob, and her parents. She is survived by daughter Evelyn Fay Leinbach (Glen) of Fort Collins, son Rush Fay of Littleton, half-brother David Howell, half-sister Kathryn Fitzpatrick, nieces Morgan Howell, Martha Fosdick, Meredith Sloan, and several great-nieces and great-nephews.

There will be no services. Cremated remains will be interred in the family plot at Oak Hill Cemetery in Evansville, Indiana. The family would be delighted if memorial contributions in Dale’s name were made to your favorite animal rescue.