Unexpected circumstance demands career change

By Libby James
Correspondent

In the 56 years since 8-year-old Dale Dirks hired on at his dad's lumber yard/feedmill, he has become proficient at shifting gears in his work life, mostly by choice, but once by crisis.

Along with his three brothers, Dirks learned the lumber and construction business from the ground up, starting with lessons in grading and sorting lumber when he was still too small to lift heavy loads. These early lessons became the foundation for Dirks' interconnected careers and gave him the confidence to know that he could always make a living.

As a child in the small town of Zachow, Wis., Dirks delivered newspapers as well, trekking considerable distances between houses to earn 2 cents every time he tossed a paper. He soon discovered that he could supplement his pay by packing a gun and shooting rabbits along his route.

"I skinned the rabbits, the meat went into our freezer and I sold the stretched hides to a local glove company," he said.

After earning a degree in art at the University of Wisconsin, Dirks pursued a graduate degree at San Jose State in California where he'd been offered a scholarship. To his surprise, a work-study job as a carpenter in the theatre department evolved into responsibilities that included set and lighting design. Largely because of a talented set design professor with a penchant for singing opera in Swedish, Dirks made the decision to combine art and set design in his degree.

He designed an entire show for his thesis and soon after, with portfolio in hand, ventured into Los Angeles in search of work. A combination of country-boy claustrophobia in the big city and the lack of suitable job opportunities, however, made him decide to accept a position as assistant professor of set design at Fresno State College.

After three years, he moved on to a similar position at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills near Palo Alto. Seven years later he was due for a sabbatical and ready for a change. He chose to use his sabbatical during two consecutive fall semesters, allowing him two summers and falls free from teaching responsibilities.

"I was ready to return to my carpentry roots and now I had a chance," he said. He became licensed as a general contractor and went into the residential construction business with his brother.

The business grew and Dirks and his wife, Debbie, began to think about having a family. In 1982 their son, Zachary, was born. Two years later, with daughter Chelsea on the way, the family planned to spend two months making improvements to their primitive mountain home in Gould. On Labor Day weekend, Dirks was Colorado-bound on Interstate 80 with two dogs. He planned to pick up Debbie and Zach at the Denver airport. Not far from Rawlins, Wyo., the rear wheel flew off Dirks vehicle, flinging him into the median strip and changing the course of his life.

Because of the holiday weekend, several hours passed before a doctor could be found to examine Dirks and send him to a larger hospital. The accident had occurred at 4 p.m. and it was 1:30 a.m. before surgery at Poudre Valley Hospital relieved the pressure on his spinal cord caused by a shattered vertebrae. By then swelling had caused damage to his spine that left him paralyzed.

During two months at PVH and through long months of recovery that followed, Dirks could only concentrate on his rehabilitation. From PVH, he returned to California where he spent five days and more than $5,000 in a rehabilitation hospital.

"When a doctor there told me I'd never walk and never work again and that I'd need 10 to 12 months of rehab, I began to question the place," Dirks said.

When an understanding nurse took him aside and said, "I'll deny I ever said this, but you've got to get out of here," he knew for certain he had to leave.

He found a small hospital close to his home that agreed to accept him on an outpatient basis for therapy. With the help of a former colleague, who drove him to therapy and cheered him on as he was fitted with braces and crutches, Dirks undertook his first tentative steps. Together they measured his progress by walking in a large empty parking lot, graduating from two parking spaces to a half-mile walk by Feb. 15, 1985. Gradually, some feeling returned to his lower body, making it possible for him to walk more easily. Today he has a wheelchair handy but is comfortable walking short distances.

While still undergoing physical therapy, Dirks turned his attention to making a living. General contracting was no longer possible for him, but home design was something he had already proved he could do. He decided to investigate earning a degree in architecture but discovered that despite his experience the process would still take four years. He concluded he couldn't afford to spend that much time in school.

The alternative was to teach himself. He bought some books and studied until he felt comfortable with his ability to embark on the business of creating viable designs for others.

"It wasn't a huge leap from creating theatrical designs to designing homes," Dirks explained. "And I'd been doing design work for my own company and interpreting architectural designs as a contractor for a long time. I had the advantage of knowing what would and wouldn't work."

Using his unique combination of skills, Dirks designed and built a home for his family west of town with panoramic views of mountains and valley and an "overkill" number of big windows from which to enjoy it all.

"Theatres don't have windows," Dirks said. "I'd spent too many years working in artificial light."

While Dirks had most of the skills necessary to design homes to make his living, he had to shift gears to learn to function as a disabled person. Unable to climb around on a construction site to demonstrate how his design would work, he had to hone his communication skills, verbally and on paper.

"Mentally, I had to settle down and learn how to get a job done without actively doing it myself," he said.

For someone who had always been actively involved with his work, the change was drastic.

Over 20 years, the business he began by designing projects for a couple of neighbors has blossomed into a client list of more than 400. He has met the challenges of designing many homes in Fort Collins and Larimer County and mountain homes in Gould, Rist Canyon, Livermore and Stove Prairie. He has created designs for clients as far away as Maui, Hawaii, in Washington and in several Midwestern states. Clients return to him again and again for additions and remodels. About half the people he works with act as their own contractor and Dirks finds himself serving as an adviser in all phases of a project.

"I love the business and I'll never retire," he said. "But I'm beginning to cut back. I'm looking forward to getting back to fine art after so many years away from it.