LeRoy Dais was a double brother to me. Our roots are in the same South Dakota wheat dirt. We attended country grade schools a few miles apart, attended church together every Sabbath (where we copied the Ten Commandments in German to preserve German writing), and graduated one year apart from Eureka High. When he married Hope Caswell of New York and she visited in South Dakota, young men like me wondered aloud whether she had young sisters at home. She did, and we soon became brothers-in-law-in-law.
The strongest definition of work is not enough to cover how hard the men in the Dais family worked, including LeRoy. He was special. At 6’ 4”, he was taller lying down than most men standing up. We may meet one or two special people in a lifetime. If you met LeRoy, you met a special person. Our special times together included driving a VW Beetle up Pikes Peak and wearing four matching shirts made by Hope while we were in Colorado for campmeeting. And shooting fireworks from the roof of LeRoy’s house!
LeRoy Dais was the first CoG7 leader to say, “The Bible Advocate should be free to membership and to those requesting it.” That idea did not pass the first year, but it passed later and was successful. LeRoy then suggested that Church members send an annual offering to cover their subscription and one other. So he was the father of the free Advocate. For all the business the BAP did with the U.S. Post Office the past 60 years, they should have lowered their flags to half-mast when he died.
LeRoy did improve his world!
— Elden Fischer
