Dale and Lois both grew up in the small, south­ern Iowa com­mu­ni­ty of Lineville and grad­u­at­ed in the years 1928 and 1929 respec­tive­ly. After grad­u­a­tion both left Lineville for Des Moines. Dale spent two years attend­ing Capi­tol City Com­mer­cial Col­lege and Lois went to work sewing the back seam of women’s stock­ing at Rollins Hosiery Mill. Dale held sev­er­al jobs before going to work in 1939 for a small tool and die com­pa­ny in Des Moines called West­ern Tool & Stamp­ing Co. When Dale start­ed, West­ern Tool had only sev­en employ­ees. At the time he retired as vice pres­i­dent of West­ern Tool in 1958, it employed over 800 peo­ple and was the largest lawn mow­er man­u­fac­tur­er in the country.

In 1995 Dale was in fail­ing health when he died on August 14, 1996 at age, 86. Lois car­ried out the vision she and Dale had for the Bright Foun­da­tion until her death on Octo­ber 26, 2013 at age 102. As would be expect­ed of a cou­ple who spent their lives giv­ing to oth­ers, their Foun­da­tion lives on to help young Iowans well into the future.