By Ed Simmons, Jr.
cpreporter@lcs.net
Dale Fifield, who made Caroline and Fredericksburg news with his wife Linda for their determined efforts to keep Ladysmith Road litter-free, was honored with a granite memorial boulder and plaque at a Lake Land'or playground now named in his honor. A Caroline Progress Dec. 10 editorial described Fifield as "a handsome man with a square jaw, kindly eyes, and a ready smile who made Caroline a more beautiful place." Fifield died of kidney cancer November 25, age 65.
At last Saturday's memorial dedication, where about 50 friends, family members and Lake Land'or neighbors gathered at the newly-named "Dale Fifield Memorial Playground" for the monument's unveiling, his daughter Dawn Long, a State Trooper in Spotsylvania, thanked Lake Land'or for remembering her dad's dedication to the community "for all the hours he spent arranging yard sale tables, decorating for New Year's Eve parties, setting up the October Fest and decorating community Christmas trees in the club house." Present too, driving from Connecticut for the occasion, Dale Fifield, Jr. spoke of the Lake Land'or memorial as "amazing." "It's a beautiful thing they did this for my father," he said. The family thanked Luckstone Spotsylvania manager Larry Dingus for donating the boulder and Dave's Trucking for reducing their rate when they heard about Dale. Added Bonnie Leiss, president of the Lake Land'or Property Owners Association, "Dale had a lot of friends. People really loved him." And giving a memorial prayer, Rev. John Boquist, pastor of Cardinal Baptist Church on Ruther Glen Road and a Lake Land'or resident, praised Fifield for "dedicating his life to the community."
After the unveiling, Dale's wife Linda spoke of the continuing pain of her grief she survives thanks to the support of family, neighbors and friends at St. Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church in Ladysmith. A short while after the ceremony, Linda's sister, Mary Cordaro of Yorktown, told how that morning before driving to Caroline she was led to read Psalm 112. Remembering Dale as the person responsible for her finishing high school in years gone by, these words caught her eye: 'A righteous man will be remembered forever.'