Dana V. Cable, Sr.

Of Shorewood, WI, passed away peacefully in his sleep just after midnight on May 10th, after a week filled with birthday visits and congratulatory phone calls from his family and friends. He was 96 years old.

Dana, Dad, Gramps, Mr. Cable—no matter the title, he was known for his hard work, passion, ingenuity, generosity, and love, especially for his family.

Dana was preceded in death by Eileen Antoinette “Toni” (Pierce) Cable, to whom he was married for many years; parents, Earl and Grace (Coit) Cable; his siblings, Emmy Lou (Cable) and Raymond Green, Bina Ralph and Betty (French) Cable, and Lawrence and Janet (Dearth) Cable.

He is survived by his four sons Dana Cable, Jr., John (Mary Susan) Cable, Stuart (Karyn) Cable, and Spencer (Jennette) Cable; his seven grandchildren, Pierce, Chris, Austin, Laura, Nic, Sam, and Elizabeth; and five great-grandchildren, Luke, Elena, Ezra, Hannah, and Holiday.

Born and raised in Cleveland, OH, Dana never shook his identity as a Buckeye, even after all these years. Though the Milwaukee area would become his home by the middle of the 20th century, you better believe it that if you were visiting with Dana on a Saturday in autumn, the Ohio State football game would surely be on the TV. Right out of high school, he enlisted in the Air Force, in which he completed 32 missions during World War II, including flying tactical operations over Germany and Italy. When he returned to the U.S., Dana completed his studies at Ohio State University in Horticultural. It was there that he met Toni, with whom he raised their four sons in the coming years.

Any horticulturist would tell you that if Fred C. Gloeckner calls you on the phone and offers you a job, then your only answer is, “when do I start?” Thus, the Cable lineage relocated to the Badger State of Wisconsin. And while no one in their right mind resigns—in their forties—from the Gloeckner Company, Dana ambitiously ventured out into the great unknown where he eventually started his own business, Growing Systems, Inc., in the early 1970s. GSI would go on to impact the horticulture industry as a whole through the adoption of various innovative technologies, including cell trays and seeding machines. Dana’s philosophy was always to be focused on the customer, as he regularly asked his company “what can we do to help the grower?”

Well, much has grown in the past century, not the least of which has been a large family that spreads its branches across the Midwest, but which finds its taproot drawing back to the rich soil that Dana spent his life tending to the best of his ability. Even through death, his tree will live on.

The family invites you to a Visitation at 1:00pm followed by a Celebration of Life at 2:00pm on June 4, 2021 at Feerick Funeral Home.

Memorial gifts can be made in Dana’s memory to a charitable cause of your choosing.