Dale Wilson Dison, 1937-2020

Dale Wilson Dison, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel among the Sub-Saharan African Affinity Peoples in Kenya, died Nov. 15, 2020. He was 83.

Dison was born in 1937 in Alexander City, Alabama, to the late Tobie Wilson Dison and Ruth Phillips Dison. He graduated from Talladega (Alabama) High School and served four years in the U.S. Air Force. He received the Bachelor of Science from Jacksonville (Alabama) State University and the Master of Science from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he did additional graduate study. He then taught at Auburn (Alabama) University. He later received a Master of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Dison married Patsy Crowder in 1963.

When seeking missionary appointment, Dison wrote that he began to sense a need for a more meaningful relationship with God in March 1973. After hearing missionaries speak and realizing he did not have to be a preacher to be a missionary, he wrote, he approached Patsy about considering missionary service. Foreign mission service, she said, had also been on her mind.

In 1975, the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) appointed them missionaries to Kenya, where Dison worked primarily as a secondary teacher.

Dison retired following 20 years of service in East Africa. He served as the pastor of Mt. Ida Baptist Church, Talladega, for the last 20 years of his life.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Pasty. He is survived by his children Darryl Dison (Lynn), DeeDee Condor (David), and Dawn Lee (Michael Mandlehr); his brother, Ronald Dison (Margie); six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A funeral service was held Nov. 20, 2020, at Usrey Funeral Home Chapel, Talladega, with burial in Pine Hill Memorial Park, Talladega.

Donations in his memory may be made to the Lottie Moon Offering, International Mission Board, 3806 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230, or online at imb.org/give.

Read his obituary here.