Rodney "Rod" Wilbur Dakan

After a battle with Lewy Body dementia Rod Dakan passed away on March 6, 2022. Rodney Wilbur Dakan (Rod) was born on February 29, 1944. Although he lived 78 years since he was a leap year baby he claimed to only be 19 and a half years old! He Was born to Wilbur and Vera Dakan in Caldwell, Idaho. He graduated from Caldwell High School in 1962. He attended the San Francisco Collage of Mortuary Science. He married Patricia Saunders and they had one son, John William, who died in 2014. Rod and Pat divorced and he later married Marilyn Bagley Ward in 1972. They were married nearly 50 years.
Rod was preceded in death by his parents, Vera and Wilbur Dakan, his son, John Dakan and his sisters in law Donna Crans and Betty Dakan, brother in law Micheal Nishitani. He is survived by his wife Marilyn, sister Marilyn Nishitani, brother Jim Dakan, daughter in law Debra Dakan, three step daughters Michiele Ward, Margaret Terrarosa, and Melinda (Ted)Thorp, 6 grandchildren, two great grandchildren and numerous nephews and nieces.
Rod often joked that he could not hold a job, yet was always self employed. He worked at the Dakan Funeral Chapel, farmed, milked cows and raised registered quarter horses in Parma, ID. He was president of the Lower Snake River Valley Quarter Horse Association in 1978. Rod moved to Washington state where he artificially bred cows in Lynden, ran a computer store specializing in accounting systems in Puyallup, operated a bed and breakfast on the Washington coast where he baked tons of chocolate chip cookies. He was president of the Washington State Bed and Breakfast Association. He then purchased a fiber processing mill spinning alpaca fiber into knitting yarn. He moved the mill to Ruidoso, NM and then back to Caldwell, ID, retiring in 2017.
While in Long Beach, WA he was a charter member of the Peninsula Church of the Nazarene. He was a current member of the Karcher Nazarene church.
The family suggests that donations be made to the Shriner's Crippled Children's Hospital. Condolences can be shared with the family at dakanfuneralchapel.com. Special thanks to the nurses and staff of Park Place Assisted Living and St. Alphonsus hospital on Flamingo for their special care of Rod.
Memorial services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at the Karcher Church of the Nazarene. Condolences may be shared with the family at www.dakanfuneralchapel.com

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