In Remembrance of Dale Perkins:
To ride one’s bicycle into one’s elder years is a testament to one’s love of life. To overcome all the reasons why one could not or should not continue to get on a bicycle is a victory over all that diminishes us. I know the feeling. I know the love of being outdoors. I know the love of breathing fresh air into one’s body and climbing a hill. I know the love of freedom and adventure of going down new roads and taking in the beauty of those new places, with new stories and new challenges with those next to you.
Dale knew this and more. He knew beauty and adventure. He breathed in the air and loved the freedom of the ride. May he continue to ‘float free’, beyond loneliness, beyond sadness, beyond challenge, pedaling hard and yet easily, a champion of gratitude and love.
-Father Matthew McDermott wrote the above eulogy to be read at the Celebration of Life for Dale.
Remembrance of Dale from fellow VeloRaptor Geoff Sylvester:
I met Dale a decade ago while on a Velo ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and back. I was new so I followed the lead of others when Dale suggested, “We should ride to Larkspur and catch a ferry back to SF.” It seemed he was suggesting we head one way to go the other but Steve Linden and I followed Dale while everyone else headed back across the bridge. We had a cold headwind but Dale was cheerful about the adventure and his encouraging banter got us there in good spirits.
Ever since that ride Dale seemed to bond with me as I know he did with so many of us. He just was a great guy who naturally befriended many, even if we rarely rode with him. Years later he and I found ourselves together on a Morgan Territories ride. We rode the entire uphill curving section through the trees together. I clung to his wheel because he was a strong rider and I found it a challenge, and because he told good stories. He was easy to talk to, funny, considerate, unpretentious, “salt-of-the-earth” type guy: a family man, a generous man. His early January soup parties were a must on my calendar as he and his family had a way of making so many of us comfortable in their home. I will miss him greatly.