He was a collector of cars, coins, guns, clocks, rocks, friends and anything else that claimed his interest.
And if there wasn’t a garage on his property, he built one.
A year after the passing of Dale Corkill his widow, Patricia, and stepdaughter, Amanda Lake, are trying to find good homes for two of his four-wheeled possessions.
He and Patricia closed on a house in Glenrock, sent three cars to its garage, and then he died of cancer at a Riverton hospice on May 21, 2025, a week before he was to move in.
Patricia Corkill said she did not realize how many cars her husband of 26 years owned at the time he died, but she pulled out a stack of titles she had to get transferred into her name.
He had them stored in various garages.
“It took half a day at the clerk’s office to get everything switched over,” she said. “Then I had to go back. You should have seen the no-smiley faces.”
She just sold his 1941 Chevy Master Deluxe to a man from Denver. Now there just remains a 1925 Model T Opera car and a 1931 Model A Ford with a rumble seat.
“The Opera car has this shade in the back and it would also have a vase,” Patricia said. “The driver or whoever could put a flower in it.”
She said the front seat looks like a couch and noted the cars then were built for smaller people than are typical today.
Dale and Patricia Corkill with the Model T Opera car. They drove it in parades. (Patricia Corkill) 
The 1925 Model T Opera car was so named due to its plush interior. This one comes with a spray bottle to keep the engine cool during parades. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
The 1925 Model T’s wheels have wooden spokes. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The Model T features a wooden bulb-like ornament and cap for its radiator. (Patricia Corkill) 
The little four-cylinder engine on the Model T with the tube used to cool the radiator. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Parade Car
Lake said her stepdad would drive the Model T in parades in Dubois and Lander. His passenger had to pump a non-original water-filled squirt bottle with a hose attached to keep the little four-cylinder engine and radiator from overheating at the parade pace.
Patricia Corkill said when her husband bought the Model T, as well as the Model A, they were already restored. But he purchased other cars and equipment that would require his skills as a mechanic and electrical whiz.
Mostly, she believes her husband purchased the cars because he enjoyed history and old things.
The couple met at the Dave Johnston Power Plant, where Dale Corkill worked for more than 30 years as an instrument technician.
He was born in Lander and spent his high school years in Casper, graduating from Natrona County High School in the same class as the late Vice President Dick Cheney.
“He liked him of course and Lynn also,” Patricia Corkill said. “We went to a class reunion and I got to shake hands with him. I didn’t wash my hand for a week.”
Afte Dale's retirement from PacificCorp, he spent three years working for Basin Electric.
Patricia said when she retired from the Dave Johnston Power Plant, he left the Wheatland job and they moved to a cabin he had owned for several years and spent the next 17 years in that region.
Dale knew all of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and Shoshone National Forest trails and sites of interest. He often acted as a guide for friends and others on snowmobile trips or four-wheeler excursions.
“I guess you could probably call him the original Airbnb person up on Union Pass taking care of people’s cabins and stuff for them,” Lake said. “Not everybody lives there year-round.”
The 1931 Model A features a winged bird as a hood ornament. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The interior of the Model A. It was last driven in a parade about three years ago. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Dale Corkill made sure he had the manuals for his two antique cars. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A collection of arrowheads picked up by Dale Corkill in the state. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Artifacts collected around the state by Dale Corkill over the years. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
In addition to cars, Dale Corkill enjoyed collecting rocks and polishing them. Patricia Corkill holds some that remain from his collection. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Skilled Mechanic
Patricia Corkill said her husband was the type of guy who fixed nearly anything: Snowmobiles, four wheelers, older cars, tractors. She said he was raised in a one-bedroom house in Casper and his dad was a carpenter and mechanic.
After graduation from high school, Dale went to Casper College and graduated with a degree in electronics. Once at the Dave Johnston Power Plant in his later years he became a teacher for other operators and even after retirement would go back to put on classes, Patrica said.
Lake said he was always a man on the move working on equipment, fixing clocks, hunting rocks, or helping others.
Patricia said whenever they moved to a new home, if the property didn’t have a garage our outbuildings he built one.
The couple from 2017 to 2025 lived in Riverton and then planned to move back to Glenrock despite his illness.
“When we bought this place, he saw the garage and said ‘let’s buy it,’” Patricia said. “Before he even came into the house.”
Besides building garages, Dale loved to listen to older people tell their stories and was ready hand to help them with projects — helping one Douglas-area widow and friend with her estate after her husband died.
When the couple prepared to move from Riverton to Glenrock, it took two auctions to downsize from the all the collection of equipment, cars, rocks, clocks and other items.
They had a three-car garage, three sheds, and a big shop full of tools, cars, rocks and more.
“He was a man that loved history and enjoyed seeing it in the old gadgets,” Patricia said. “You have no idea how much stuff we had to get rid of because we were downsizing so much. It hurt him bad, but he knew that he was not able to take care of it anymore.”
Dale Corkill liked to fix clocks. Amanda Lake holds one that she held on to. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Dale Corkill on a snowmobile. He acted as a guide for friends on excursions in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. (Patricia Corkill) 
Dale Corkill enjoyed history as well as pursing greater technical skills in the electrical field and mechanics. (Patricia Corkill) 
An old razor sharpener purchased by Dale Corkill. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Rock Collection
Patricia Corkill said her husband’s rock collection that included polished stones as well as just rocks made more money than the first auction that included equipment, tools and household items.
She retains some of the rocks they collected as well as other unique items such as lamps used in the Glenrock coal mines, a razor sharpener, and arrowheads from all over Wyoming.
Patricia said her husband loved going to auctions.
“You could show him something and he could tell you the story behind it,” Lake said.
Mother and daughter posted the last of Dale Corkill’s wheeled collection they want to sell on social media sites a couple weeks ago.
The 1925 Model T features wooden spoked wheels, a throttle on the column, and a battery so there's no need to twist a crank to start it — though that’s available for back up. The red-bulb hood ornament/radiator cap apparently helps the driver keep his hands from getting burned when removing the cap.
Patricia Corkill said the engine on the Model T was replaced by a previous owner, so the number does not match the original title.
The yellow 1931 Model A features a winged bird in flight as its combination hood ornament and radiator cap, spoked rims, spare tires with Ford covers on both sides of the car, and a metal carry rack that folds out off the back behind the rumble seat. The little four-cylinder engine boasts 4,635 miles on its odometer.
The last time both cars were fired up and driven was during a parade three years ago.
“We just want to find good homes for them,” Patricia Corkill said.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
