Dale Emerson Wykoff

Asheville - Retired Col. Dale Emerson Wykoff, PhD, was born January 12, 1927 in Cleveland, OH and passed away in Asheville, NC on April 28, 2022 aged 95. He was predeceased by his parents, Harold and Julia Wykoff and his wife of 61 years, Alice Carroll Wykoff. He is survived by his sister, Patricia Snider (Wally) of Myrtle Beach, SC, children Carroll Ann Wykoff of Aspinwall, PA, and Randy Wykoff (Janine) of Johnson City, TN, as well as seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Dale grew up in Salem, OH graduating from Salem High School in 1944. Two years into his enrollment at Virginia Military Institute (VMI), he entered WW II. He was assigned to Fort Lewis, WA and Fort Sam Houston, TX where he was concerned with malaria in returning troops. Leaving the Army as a Sergeant, he returned to VMI where he graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1949. He then entered the regular Army. To satisfy a need for officers trained in parasitic diseases in the Army, the Medical R & D Command sent Capt. Wykoff to Tulane University in New Orleans, LA where he received his MS in Parasitology. Upon completion, he had a short assignment at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) in Washington, DC. which was to become his permanent base in the U.S. He was subsequently sent to the 406th Medical General Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan as the Chief of the Department of Medical Zoology, offering him the chance to conduct research in both Japan and S. Korea. After three years in Japan, he returned to WRAIR. He was again assigned to Tulane University where he completed his PhD in Parasitology in 1958. Upon completion of that degree, Dale and his young family deployed to the U. S. Army Medical Research Unit Europe in Landstuhl, Germany. During that time, he enrolled in the Tropical Medicine course at the Bernard Nocht Institute in Hamburg where he was awarded his Diploma. Shortly after graduation, he and his family were assigned to the U.S. Army Medical Component of the South East Asia Treaty Organization in Bangkok, Thailand where he served as Chief of the Department of Medical Zoology for three years. His next assignment took him and his family to Kampala, Uganda in 1965. There he served as the Director at the WRAIR Medical Research unit in Uganda. During this assignment, he also taught Medical Parasitology to students from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania at Makerere University in Kampala. Returning to WRAIR in 1969, he served as the Associate Director for Operations prior to another assignment in East Africa, this time in Kenya. Following this assignment in Kenya, he returned to WRAIR where he was the Associate Director for Research Management. As a Colonel, he retired from the Army in 1979. He was then hired by the World Health Organization (WHO) and moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he was in charge of research and training in the WHO program for African Sleeping Sickness along the tsetse fly belt of Africa. He retired from WHO in 1981. During the course of his 31 years of military service, Col. Wykoff was awarded the Legion of Merit (2 awards), The Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards), and the Army Commendation medal (2 awards), as well as many service awards and decorations from assignments in WW II, East Africa, the Far East and South East Asia. Dale and Alice continued to move frequently and travel widely after retiring from WHO. After Alice’s death in 2012, Dale returned to Asheville where he resided at Deerfield Retirement Community until his death. An avid photographer and a friend to all, he was involved in many community service programs during his last years in Asheville. In addition to his many friends from around the world and the Asheville area, especially the NC Arboretum, he leaves behind his loving children who fondly recall times with their father and their adventures growing up overseas. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2022, at 3:00 pm at St. Giles Chapel, Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, 1617 Hendersonville Rd, Asheville, NC 28803. Final interment with full military honors at Arlington Cemetery will follow at a later date.