Dayle Ivor Fish

Dayle Ivor Fish, 77, of Charleston, SC, passed away on Friday, September 12, 2025.

Born on February 27, 1948, in Spokane, WA, Dayle was the son of the late Dorothy Akre Fish and the late Daniel Fish.

My Dayle died held in the arms of love, and surrounded by the peace of the Lord; after a long, valiant fight for life.There are so many things to say about this incredible man, you may find some surprises,he was just that kind of guy! Dayle proudly served in the US Navy and retired after 24 years of active duty, working in Naval Command and Control Operations around the world both aboard ships and on command staffs. He rose to the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer and served as Director of Advanced Operations specialist training at Dam Neck, Virginia. After retirement from active duty he remained in the defense sector as a government contractor at a higher level and transitioned into software testing as Manager with Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. While there, he helped develop the Global Command and Control System (GCCS), his mission was to ensure that command decision makers had access to the most accurate and timely digital data available in real time. During this timeframe, he lost his first wife, Jean Lutz, and proudly adopted her loving daughter Pamela Fish.

After retirement he became a lifetime member of the VFW Post 6060, In Elizabeth City. He was a tender, caring man with many loves and interests. Our home quickly became a repository for all of those shared loves and interests. He remained a life long learner and a book or two, three or ten were always by his side. He devoured history and maps. Books from all our travels, history, religion, nature, ancient civilizations and ancestry as he traced his family history. He became a painter, writer, author and lover of theater, music, snorkeling or anything else that would keep him near water. Our painting studio overlooking the Ashley River was our sanctuary for morning coffee or late afternoon nature watching. It is a mournful room now with all his brushes and paintings waiting for the touch of his hand. His train spotting was epic and the many that came over our bridge held never ending fascination. Came from our living in a railroad town in Minnesota.

He was fascinated with the heavens and enjoyed watching the dances of the night sky using a telescope given to him by big brother Dan. He was an engaged and caring father, grandfather and great grandfather to all of our joint family. his love of old westerns gave him" me time" to enjoy.

Our travels around the world reflected books we had read or stories and movies we had seen. Music could set us off to find who, what, where and when it was written. Then the “did you know” that we loved would begin and set us off on a path that took us from Staffa where Mendelssohn was inspired to write the Scottish Hebrides Symphony and back to our beloved Lake Superior and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot. We traveled by foot, plane, helicopter, donkey cart, funicular, bus,motorcycle, boat, camper, camel and hydrofoil and our favorite trip was our 2 ½ month camper van trip with 14 ferries and train trips as we explored the inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkney and my families ancestry in Scotland. We loved to read out loud to each other which gave him much comfort during his many hospitalizations, music always by Alexa! His advice to you is if you don’t know where the Dry Tortugas are, look it up, read the history, go to Key West with a backpack, tent and snorkel gear, take the hydrofoil to Fort Jefferson 90 miles from Havana in the middle of the ocean and survival camp for three glorious days. Too old? Never, we loved every minute of it and the sea was as beautiful at night as it was during the day. Where else can you swim with sea turtles, barracuda and a friendly black tip shark that was as curious as we were.

Memories, beautiful, sharp, continuous. Always ending with ice cream and words of love. If there ever was magic in a marriage, it was in ours. I am so very grateful for every second spent with you Dayle Ivor Fish, my sweet, sweet Baboo. Thank you for being my first boyfriend in 1962 and my last love now. You will be celebrated and loved till my dying day and you better come find me again! Your Brown Eyed Girl, Wendy

Funeral Arrangements have been entrusted to McAlister-Smith Funeral and Cremation, 2501 Bees Ferry Road, Charleston, SC 29414, (843) 722-8371.