Dale Henry Vanderholm, 86, of Castle Rock, Colorado, emeritus associate dean of agriculture research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, died July 25.
Vanderholm was born March 28, 1940, and raised on a large farm near Villisca, Iowa. He graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in agricultural engineering in 1962 and a Master of Science in water resources in 1969. While at Iowa State, he was a member of Acadia Fraternity’s Koph Chapter and was active in the Iowa State Singers choral ensemble.
In 1963, Vanderholm served as a naval lieutenant aboard the USS Herbert J. Thomas, stationed in Long Beach, California, and deployed with the Seventh Fleet to Japan during the Cold War, providing gunfire support early in the Vietnam War. During the ship’s Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization conversion — which protected the ship from biological and chemical agents and radioactive fallout — he was stationed at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. After the ship’s 12-month conversion, he was the anti-submarine warfare nuclear missiles officer while the ship navigated along the California coast to conduct testing of the new FRAM program.
Returning to higher education, Vanderholm joined the faculty at Iowa State in 1967. He married San Diego native Margaret Jean Trimmer on June 24, 1967, and went on to earn a doctoral degree from Colorado State University in 1972. His dissertation, “Planning Water, Quality and Surveillance,” laid the groundwork for subsequent research on water quality and pollution. In 1973, the couple moved to Illinois, where he taught and conducted research for more than 10 years at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and served as a visiting research fellow from 1979-80 at the New Zealand Agricultural Engineering Institute.
In 1983, the family moved to Nebraska, where he was appointed professor and associate dean and director of the Department of Agriculture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His research on agricultural water pollution and the effects of runoff in groundwater remain consequential empirical studies.
Retiring in 2006, the couple moved to Castle Rock to be close to their growing family.
Vanderholm loved to laugh and travel, and he enjoyed singing baritone with the men’s glee club at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. He is survived by his wife, Margaret; daughters, Kim Vanderholm (Chris Burchard) and Stephanie Vanderholm Emko (Drake); and granddaughters, Logan, Ashton and Alexis.
A memorial service will take place at 2 p.m. Oct. 2 at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.
