We all lost a great friend and very dedicated Shepley team member right after Labor Day. Dan DeLisle, our lead inside sales person in our Wellfleet branch, was taken from us very unexpectedly by a brain aneurysm. 100% of us are aware that such a thing can happen, but 99.9% of couldn’t spell aneurysm if we had to and most of us would never think of the possibility of one entering our lives. This occurred without any warning which makes it a very difficult to understand and process. No one saw this coming.
Dan brought a lot of experience to us all, having worked in the industry, both on the supply side and the contractor side. Earlier in his career he spent a number of years working for 84 Lumber in Connecticut and I used to kid him about their rather stripped down office accommodations. Dan said if you got an unheated office area and a drywall bucket to sit on, that was about as good as you could expect in their old school environment. Perhaps that explains his early adoption of a stand up desk while working with us. I believe he was one of our very first stand up workers and thinking back, I can’t remember the last time I saw him sitting down on the job.
Dan was a great and curious thinker who had many facets. He was generous, hard working, dedicated, and supportive of co-workers and customers alike. He was absolutely the man to go the extra mile for you. While we can’t control his passing, how we react to his passing is still up to all of us. We can bless our good fortune that allowed his life’s path to intersect with ours and we can remember the examples he set for the rest of us. We can comfort each other and Dan’s family in our grief but we can also remember that Dan would be his practical self and tell us to get back to living. Our hearts go out to Dan’s family, his friends, and his many associates.
Here below is his beautifully written obituary. Farewell to a wonderful friend!
Daniel E. DeLisle 1954 - 2022 Westfield Daniel Edward DeLisle, 68, passed away peacefully and unexpectedly on September 8th, 2022 at the Baystate Medical Center with family by his side. He was born in Buffalo, NY on March 19th 1954 to the late William and Dorothy (Glowicki) DeLisle. While attending SUNY Buffalo State College he met his wife Susan (Gilbert) DeLisle. His career in lumber sales and management brought him and his family to many locations, including Westfield, MA in 1995 where they settled. In 2011 Dan took a position with Shepley Wood Products in Wellfleet, MA. For the past 11 years Dan thoroughly enjoyed the relationships he had with his coworkers and clients. He was a lifelong learner, with an interest in philosophy, woodworking, and more recently cosmology. He loved gardening and spending time in what he called his backyard oasis. Through his passion of woodworking he remodeled the home he raised his family in, and later started to remodel a house on the Cape. In his free time Dan also enjoyed cooking, drinking wine, and taking day trips with Sue to antique stores and flea markets. In addition he greatly valued spending time with his family. Dan is survived by his loving wife of 45 years, Susan (Gilbert) DeLisle as well as their two children Michael DeLisle and Dr. Kathryn DeLisle. He is also survived by 6 brothers and sisters, Ann (late Al) Heitmann, John (Diane) DeLisle, Dr. Robert (late Eileen Roach) DeLisle, Steven (Michelle) DeLisle, Tina (Matt) McCoy, and Vincent (Fiona Clark) DeLisle. He also leaves behind his aunt Terrie (Tom) Odierno, brother-in-law Thomas Gilbert, and sister-in-law Diane Gilbert. He was an uncle to nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews. The family wishes to celebrate his life privately. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Tunnel to Towers Foundation, or Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod. www.firtionadams.com