DALE FORSTER “TUCKER” DORN
12/20/1942 - 02/22/2023
Dale Forster “Tucker” Dorn, beloved husband, father, brother, uncle and friend was born on December 20, 1942 in San Antonio, TX. He grew up there and in Bradford, Pennsylvania, before attending The Choate School, where he made a comeback from the bottom to the top of his class. He went on to Stanford, where he was social chairman of his fraternity, Theta Chi, and took a sabbatical to la Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia.
Yes, he had brief stints in the oil fields of West Texas and on Wall Street, and a not-so-brief stint at his family company, the Forest Oil Corporation, including in Alaska and Colorado, but what he really loved was fly fishing, wild places, fine paintings and a good story. As a great storyteller, he’d much rather you know that as a teenager, he ran into Hemingway while running with the bulls. He swam by moonlight in the shark-infested waters from Nassau to Paradise Island with his lifelong friend, McLean Bowman. He had elaborate escape routes from his third-floor dormitory at Choate to sneak out to Yale. By his mid-twenties, he learned Swahili on repeated safaris in East Africa, having already perfected his Spanish and flamenco in the elegant drawing rooms of precartel Colombia. He explored uncharted parts of the Colombian Amazon, where a local tribe saved him from a week-long tropical fever delirium. He entertained the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, in addition to countless friends from around the globe, at his cherished family camp, Glendorn. He tracked tigers in India as part of the wedding festivities of his dear Stanford friends, with whom he later retraced the route of Captain Cook through the South Pacific by sailboat. He annually christened new flyfishing waters, from the Yucatan to Alaska, on adventures with his brother, nephew, and childhood friends. He was charged by elephants and chased by grizzly bears, foreshadowing his 8 years of intrepid bravery battling against cancer.
He was perhaps most proud of saving from development the verdant valley home to the headwaters of the Chama River—which also became his favorite place for both trout fishing and gathering with family and friends. He cared deeply about giving back, including the great joy he found in his years of conservation work with the African Wildlife Foundation and in being the longestserving board member of the San Antonio Museum of Art. He will be remembered for his encyclopedic knowledge of The Dallas Cowboys, The Taos Society of Painters, African Wildlife and dry fly patterns.
He is survived by his wife, Lacey Neuhaus Dorn; his daughter, Lacey Dorn; his siblings, Clayton, Sharon and Johnny; and many beloved nieces, nephews and friends, to whom he was unfailingly loyal.
His Clubs include The Order of the Alamo, The San Antonio German Club, The Argyle Club, San Antonio Country Club, Prouts Neck Country Club and the Eagle Lake Rod and Gun Club.
Pallbearers are John Dorn, McLean Bowman, Tres Kleberg, Holbrook Dorn, Brad Chisum, Garett Chisum, Colter Chisum, Philip Armstrong, Daniel Neuhaus, Marshall Miller, Kit Goldsbury, Carl Newton, C.D. Armstrong, David Bates, John Boldrick, Billy Osborn, Steve Wood, Dick Weekley, Frank Craighill, Carlisle Maxwell, Cebe Musgrave, Mike Humphreys, Ken Halliday, William Russell, McLean Russell, Henry Breck, Dickie Longoria, and Al Philip. Ex-Officio
A funeral service will be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon, Thursday, the 2nd of March, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 315 E. Pecan St., San Antonio, TX, 78205 where the Rev. Elizabeth Knowlton is to officiate. For those unable to attend, a live stream of the service will be available within his obituary at www. porterloring.com. Afterwards, the family will greet friends during a reception to be held at a venue announced at the service. Burial services will be at one o’clock in the afternoon, Friday, March 3rd at Glenwood Cemetery, 2525 Washington Ave., Houston, TX 77007. Family and friends are welcome. Afterwards, the family will greet friends during a reception to be held at a venue announced at the burial.
Tucker and his family have long been thankful to Dr. Robert Orlowski MD, PhD, Chairman and Director of Myeloma at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, for his determined and compassionate care in Tucker’s years of fight against Multiple Myeloma. They also wish to thank Dr. Saad Usmani at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Always supportive, he offered Tucker a chance at a most progressive treatment in the fight against Multiple Myeloma.
Family and friends saw that
Tucker was blessed to find further care in San Antonio at the START Cancer Center. They and Tucker have been profoundly grateful for the insightful, intuitive and compassionate care of Dr. Lon Smith and his assistants Bonnie Clark and Jennifer Armstrong. In their hands, with the almost daily assistance of fitness coach, Nina Bubel, he lived a miracle 16 months longer than expected.
The Dorn family gives thanks for the years of support rendered by Mary Gomez and the constant care rendered in recent years by Rudy Reyes, Norma James, Roberto Villanueva, and Diafana Angel. Their delightful, respectful and compassionate care enlivened and empowered the final years of Tucker’s life.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Mr. Dorn may be directed to the San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., San Antonio, TX 78215; or the African Wildlife Foundation, 1100 New Jersey Ave., S.E., Suite 900, Washington D.C. 20003; or a charity of one’s choice.
You are invited to sign the Guestbook at www.porterloring.com
Arrangements with
PORTER LORING MORTUARY 1101 McCULLOUGH AVE. SAN ANTONIO, TX 78212 – (210) 227-8221