Lovell’s roofing legacy to remain strong – Columbus Telegram

It was 1958, and Dale Lovell was heading to a job in Schuyler when he was pulled over by a state patrolman.

Lovell was driving a 1949 International flatbed pickup truck which, according to his son, Mike, everything that (could be) wrong with it was wrong with it.

No headlights, no taillights, (a) broken window, everything, Mike said. The state patrolman happened to know him by name and said, Dale, where are you going with this contraption? He said, Im going over to Schuyler, Ive got a job mopping up a roof. As soon as I get that done, Ill be able to get this fixed.

After his run-in with the patrolman, Dale began the job of mopping up a banks roof with hot tar. As he was doing his work on the roof, someone from a car dealership came up to him asking for an estimate for his roof.

He got done with the bank and went to the car dealership, Mike said. When he got done with that, the post office got a hold of him. So he went over and mopped the post office (roof). By the time he got done in Schuyler, he had done five jobs and he made pretty good money over there doing that.

Those five jobs proved to be the starting point for a long and fruitful career. Dale and his wife, Roberta, started Dales Roofing in Columbus in 1960, and from there, he earned a reputation across the town as a hard-working, committed roofer.

Over 59 years, his family estimates that he had worked on hundreds of roofs all over Platte County, and the business itself was a family affair. From his wife to his son, Mike, who became his business partner in 2006, the family had its hands all over the business and worked hard to make it one of the more prominent roofing companies in Columbus.

Next year will be the 60th year of Dales Roofing; however, its founder wont be there to see it. On Oct. 19, with his son in the room by his side, Dale died at the age of 88. Mike knew that health problems were affecting him, as there was a litany of issues he'd been dealing with prior to his passing.

He had congestive heart failure, kidney failure, he had Type-2 diabetes and he had macular degeneration, Mike said. At 88 years old, it led up to it. His health wasnt the best.

The news of his death touched the family that had spent so much time with him. His grandson, Jon, who works as a surveyor for a consulting group in Omaha, said that his commitment to his customers set him apart from others in the field.

He was loyal, he was generous, faith-driven, honest and hard-working, Jon said. He raised 10 kids, thats an accomplishment on its own. They never went hungry.

In addition to the 10 children, he had 28 grandchildren and 58 great-grandchildren. They all have plenty of memories of the late man in action, including one instance when Jon was in high school.

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When you look at a roof, you dont know whats underneath it. When you tear into something and you find bad wood or something, we would take the time to explain it to customers. Now, with a phone on your camera, you can take pictures and say, Heres what we have, because an older person cant get up on the roof. I would take pictures and show them, This is whats bad (and) this is what we have to do.

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Lovell's roofing legacy to remain strong - Columbus Telegram