Dalton Lee Poole

Dalton Lee Poole passed away on August 14, 2025, age 74, from stage 4 lung cancer.  He was born in April of 1951, the second child of Amber (deceased in 2015) and Doris Poole.  He was also predeceased by a little sister, Starr Melinda Poole. He is survived by his loving mother, age 94, elder sister Susan (Paul) Watson, brother Darth (Lillian) Poole, and sisters Sharon (Jim) Powell, Sheryl (Duane) Roche, and Sheila (Bob) Froese, his maternal uncle and aunt, Jesse and Judy Stevens, 23 nieces and nephews, and their 40 children.

Dalton was a victim of the polio epidemic, contracting the dreaded disease when he was just 2 and a half years old.  After being in a coma for several days, God brought him through, but his left leg had lost muscle strength.  Physical therapy and a metal brace soon helped him learn to walk again, and he had surgery later to help his growth.  Despite having a slight limp, he always enjoyed sports and even won the school district high jump event in sixth grade.  Dalton never let his disability limit his endeavors.

His high school years were troubling, so much so, that he was sent to live with a Christian family in Ohio, who took him in at the request of a concerned pastor here. Dalton worked through some of his problems and mostly thrived with the Wests and their sons, eventually moving with them to California.  Trouble seemed to find him, however, and he moved again to Florida and then to Ocean City Maryland, working construction jobs.  Dalton finally returned home to Wilmington, where he lived with his parents, helped with tree work and worked as a carpet layer.  When his Uncle Billy moved out of his grandmother’s house, he began to help fix it up and soon moved in at his longtime home in Browntown.  This was the very same house that his mother Doris was born in and that he used to visit as a child. He took pride in helping to renovate the kitchen and installing carpet throughout the house.

Dalton regained a good relationship with his parents and really enjoyed talking sports with his father in Amber’s last years.  He became a good support for his mother after Amber passed away, driving her to stores and appointments, and soon was given ownership of her car and of the house in Browntown.  He faithfully visited with his mother every week, even after his hip surgery in 2021 and subsequent long recovery, until she moved to an assisted living home in Elkton, Maryland in January of 2023.

Dalton was using a cane for extra support and finally feeling like his hip was better, when he began having pain in his back.  After suffering with it for several months, he became convinced that there must be a shard of glass in his back from when he had a slight fall on the sidewalk outside his home.  When the doctor could not find any visible signs of anything unusual on his back, he finally agreed to have a chest x-ray which revealed a dark area. In early June of 2025, Dalton was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his liver, colon, and right hip. He chose to forego any treatment, which would have relieved some of the pain but would not have cured the cancer.  He was in considerable pain, so on Monday, July 21, he opted to go on hospice care at home with the goal of pain management.  He reluctantly entered the Accent Hospice Care hospital unit on July 30 because he was not able to manage the regimented pain medication schedule on his own. The goal was to return home, but after an initial feeling of well-being and his pain under control, Dalton quickly declined, and remained in the hospital until his passing.

Dalton admitted several weeks before his death that he had not lived the best life, but that he believed in the promise of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” He left us peacefully and unafraid, confident of his destination.

The family would like to thank Richard and Debby Waxman, for being Dalton’s longtime faithful friends and Eugene and Gloria Robles, his close neighbors who helped him out a lot in his last days.  The family would also like to thank the staff at Accent Hospice for their gracious and loving care.

A gathering of remembrance for family and close friends will be held on September 14, 2025.