Obituaries

William "Dale" Grigsby, age 77, passed away on June 3, 2026, in Independence, Kentucky. Born in Hazard, Kentucky on September 4, 1948, Dale spent much of his life in Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving behind a legacy of service, intellect, and a legendary pursuit of the perfect breakfast.

Dale attended Garfield High School in Hamilton, Ohio, and later studied Chemistry at the University of Kentucky. Demonstrating the deep devotion to family that would define his entire life, he chose to leave his studies with just one year remaining to return home and support his parents.

Dale began his career working for the Environmental Protection Agency as a chemist. He then transitioned into public service, spending 42 dedicated years as an Environmental Health Specialist for the Cincinnati Health Department, from which he eventually retired.

To those who knew him, Dale was a man with a famously gruff exterior and a fiercely soft, loving center. He was a fixer and a problem solver through and through, viewing the world as a series of fires to be put out, often with his bare feet. He answered calls at all hours of the night, giving his time and resources without hesitation to help family, friends, and neighbors navigate their own struggles.

When he wasn’t solving problems, Dale was a renaissance man. He loved gardening, cooking, collecting vinyl records, and both playing and coaching baseball. He frequently baffled those around him by quoting highly inapplicable song lyrics, usually from Dylan, or deploying his full quiver of catchphrases, including, "I haven't the foggiest notion," and, "If you had a modicum of intelligence, you would see you are incorrect".

Above all, Dale was a fixture in the kitchen, even if it wasn’t his house. For the last twenty years of his life, he was on an unrelenting quest to engineer the perfect biscuit recipe. He will be remembered most vividly standing at the stove, always making a breakfast sandwich or a batch of biscuits and gravy for the people he loved.

Dale is survived by his beloved wife, Joyce; his siblings, Marcus and Karen (Patrick Scott); his children, Trisha (Tim Blake) and Travis (Loree Mandell); and his three cherished grandchildren, Grayson, Boston, and Malone. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles Garfield Grigsby and Ruby Madden.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Monday, June 8, 2026, at Floral Hills Memorial Garden in Taylor Mill, Kentucky. Visitation/Layout will be 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, with the service following from 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM. A light dinner will follow immediately after the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Dale’s honor to A Child’s Hope International (ACHI) at achildshopeintl.org.