Dallas Isom Obituary (1938

Dallas Woodbury Isom, beloved father, memorable law professor, and published WWII historian, died Sunday, October 3rd, 2010, at his home in Salem, Oregon, of natural causes at the age of 72. Dallas was born January 11, 1938, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He grew up in Cedar City, Utah, as the eldest child of Orville and Gladys Isom in a large family that would eventually comprise eight children. Dallas was a precocious and sometimes mischievous child whose independent spirit was nurtured in the red hills and open skies of Cedar City, Utah.Dallas began his academic career by attending the College of Southern Utah (now Southern Utah University) in Cedar City. After two years, he heeded the call of his country and enlisted in the Navy where he served in the intelligence service from 1958 to 1962 in Washington, D.C. In 1959, Dallas married Sondra Petty, who, though they later divorced, remained a lifelong friend. After his service in the Navy, Dallas went to law school at the University of Utah where he graduated among the top in his class of 1965 as a member of the Order of the Coif, having served as an editor of the Utah Law Review. Immediately following law school, Dallas was offered a teaching fellowship at the Stanford University law school and spent what he recounted was one of the best years of his life in Palo Alto, California. After practicing law in Portland, Oregon, for two years, Dallas accepted an appointment as a law professor at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where he served as a member of the faculty from 1968 to 1998. Dallas was well known for, among many things, his two beer rule which has achieved almost folkloric stature in Oregon civil procedure jurisprudence. Upon his retirement, Dallas moved to London, England, where he lived for 6 years.Among Dallass many intellectual pursuits was a deep and abiding interest in 20th Century war history. The jealous mistress of the law yielded her hold on Dallass mind in favor of a new passion. Dallas gained a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of WWII history (and a large bit of WWI history as well) and held many theories on pivotal events upon which turned the fate of the modern world. His endeavors in war history culminated in the publication of an important book on the Battle of Midway bearing the title, Midway Inquest: Why the Japanese Lost the Battle of Midway. Dallas is survived by his mother, Gladys Woodbury Isom, his two sons, Matthew Isom and Thomas Isom, his ex-wife, Sondra Petty White, and siblings Jon, T. Richard, Harriett Dusty , Brad, Wynn, and Layne. He is preceded in death by his father, Orville Isom, and youngest brother, Gregory. Dallas was the proud grandfather of Adam, Julia, Gregory, Nadia, Claire, John, Emily, Lewis, James, and Zachary.The funeral will be held in Cedar City, Utah, on October 15 at 1:00 p.m., at the LDS Cedar City First Ward chapel located at 100 East Center, Cedar City, Utah. Interment will take place at the Cedar City Cemetery.