Neal D. Dagle

It is with great sorrow that the family of Neal D. Dagle announces his passing. He died on January 15, 2021 after a long, hard fought battle with multiple myeloma. He was the husband of Priscilla Horsman of Essex.

Neal was born on February 26, 1942 in Hartford, CT to the late Madelyn (Doyle) and Spencer Dagle. To his close friends he was known as Bullfrog, Froggie, Eot (Essex’ oldest teenager) and the Curmudgeon. To his family he was Dad and Papa Neal.

Neal served his country as a lieutenant in the US Air Force. He did a tour of duty in Vietnam serving in a MACVSOG unit. After the service he attended Boston University where he played football. In his younger days he played guitar in JB Amero’s band, The Barons. He enjoyed skydiving, flying, refereeing hockey games in the local area as well as working in the NHL.

For many years he was employed at Varian, retiring from there as a systems analyst. As Neal “matured”, he enjoyed woodworking, cooking, especially holiday meals for his family, firing up his smoker to smoke some ribs. He liked to drive around his beloved Essex listening to his music. What he called a mal job. He was smart, funny, opinionated and drove his truck much too slow, to the dismay of traffic behind him.

In addition to his wife Priscilla, Neal leaves three daughters, Kerry Breeze  (Peter), Kathryn Stewart (Bill), and Lindsay Hurd (Paul); six adored grandchildren, Althea, Benjamin, Megan and Zachary Hurd; David Breeze and Oskar Stewart; a sister Lois Dagle and two nieces.

The family thanks the Cape Ann Way staff at Seacoast for the care they gave Neal over the last four weeks. Also, A big thank you to the oncology staff at Addison Gilbert Hospital, Dr. McIntyre and Neal’s special oncology nurse, Kelley Greel, who all took great care of Neal for many years.

Rest in peace Neal. No more pain!

At Neal’s direction, there will be no services. Arrangements are under the direction of the Whittier-Porter Funeral Home of Ipswich.

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