Ed Dahack

 

Ed Dahack, owner of Ed’s Oasis, passed away May 7, 2023, at age 102. He’ll be honored in a

service on May 15th , 2023 at 1 pm at Perl Funeral Home, Medford, and inurned at the Eagle

Point National Cemetery.

Ed was born in 1920 to Ernest and Grace Dahack in Eagle Point. The Dahack family was well-

known, having arrived in Eagle Point in the 1880’s.

Ed grew up amid Ernie and Gracie’s family business, the Oasis, which was a gas station, garage

and barber shop they opened in the early 1920’s. Located just outside Eagle Point, they named

it the Oasis as it was the last chance to purchase gasoline on the way to Crater Lake, years

before it became a local watering hole. Ed had two older sisters, Victoria (Vickie) and Ernestine

(Teen). The family resided at the business and everyone pitched in to work.

As a boy, Ed trapped muskrats in nearby Little Butte Creek. When Ed was a teenager in the

1930’s, his father purchased a dance hall located at Platt Avenue and Main Street in Eagle

Point. He marked all of the boards and parts, disassembled, moved and rebuilt it adjoining the

Oasis. The dance hall was notorious for its spring dance floor.

His parents later obtained a tavern license for the dance hall, the precursor to the later bar

business. In one of many family side-businesses, Ed accompanied his dad on long drives to

market in San Francisco, delivering turkeys or farm produce – two decades before the existence

of Interstate 5. During the depression with all family members employed in the business, it was

clear to Ed that by comparison many nearby families faced harder times. Ernie Dahack’s

generosity to the less fortunate made a lifelong impression on his young son, Ed.

Ed graduated from Eagle Point High School in 1941 and joined the Coast Guard in World War II.

He was stationed in Alaska, San Francisco, and Baltimore. Ed described his post-war return to

sleepy Eagle Point as a depressing let down, but he enjoyed his position as catcher on the

Cheney Stud baseball team.

After the war, Ed ran Ed’s Tavern across the street from the Oasis but by 1964 opened the full

bar called Ed’s Oasis adjoining the dance hall. He succeed from the start, with his sisters

tending bar and running the kitchen. He continued to operate the dance hall, hosting bands

and stars such as Bobby Darin and Buck Owens. The popular events caused overflow parking to

line the street into Eagle Point. In the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, the bar was a favorite of veterans living at

Camp White. During all of the decades from the 1920’s onward, the Oasis business supported

Ed’s extended family.

Ed was active in the Restaurant and Beverage Association, holding executive positions and

traveling to meet colleagues. He became widely known and was routinely recognized in just

about any airport in the U.S. A tough, tenacious man, he was no stranger to crawling under or

on top of the bar building to make repairs, but was equally comfortable speaking at a board

meeting in his own unique style. He was loaded with charisma and unwittingly accumulated

many descriptive phrases.

Early on, Ed earned a reputation as a source of support in the community. For years, he

sponsored the Ed’s Oasis baseball team; donated to many student groups; donated ice from the

bar, lent equipment, provided free dance hall space and even made change for the local bank.

His trusty Ford pickup was lent to countless people across 60 years.

Ed helped establish the Eagle Point Museum and donated land for its lot, as well as for the

Covered Bridge. He donated land for a new downtown transit bridge which was named the

Edgar Dahack Bridge in his honor.

People from all walks of life sought his help over the years, both advisory and financial. All of

that is dwarfed by the vast amount of support he gave to those on the fringe of society, often in

the grips of stress and tragedy with nowhere else to turn. Many repaid him; more did not.

Many, many people were quietly and forever grateful for his help in a time of desperate need.

The two great loves of Ed’s life were his business, and his role as private philanthropist.

Both Ed and his sister, Vickie, lived past age 100, but all of his family predeceased him. Ed ran

the bar until 2023. Anyone age 100 loses nearly all family and friends, and with them go

memories, understanding, and recognition of life’s achievements. Ed was predeceased by

many who held him in high esteem. In many ways, at age 102, his reputation predeceased him.

Ed Dahack was a local hero and truly a classic, great American.

To honor Ed or acknowledge the help he gave your family, donations are welcomed by the D9

Foundation, PO Box 1166, Eagle Point, OR 97524 or at d9foundation.com, to fund college

scholarships for students in the Eagle Point school district.