When Dale Harris started his journey at Wayne-White Electric Cooperative, he probably never dreamed that after working for the cooperative for 35 years, he would then spend an additional 20 years serving on the Board of Directors.
Dale began his career at Wayne-White Electric on January 25, 1968, in the member services department under cooperative manager Sam Miller. The Beatles had the number one song in the UK with Hello Goodbye, gas was approximately $0.34 a gallon, and the cooperative had just ended a promotion that provided a free nine-piece set of West Bend Teflon cookware for members who purchased their first electric range.
Needless to say, Dale has seen a lot of changes in his time serving Wayne-White Electric.
Dale served in the member services department for seven years before moving into a position in the billing department as cashier and computer tech in 1975.
As the cooperative continued to evolve and technology continued to advance, Dale moved to the engineering department in 1979 as an engineering tech. The move was prompted by the bad ice storm of 1979 as they needed all the help they could get in this department at the time.
Eventually Dale would become the Manager of Engineering when his predecessor Bill Bennet retired. He kept that position until he was moved to the Manager of Special projects. This position took his engineering knowledge and had him implementing the SCADA system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system). This system was put in place to monitor, control and manage power generation and distribution. In other words, it provides the cooperative with real time information from our equipment out on the system.
Dale retired on March 8, 2003, after working at the cooperative for thirty-five years. After just two years of retirement, Dale returned to serve the cooperative, this time as a Director. Dale replaced Delman Bradshaw in 2005.
During his time on the Board of Directors, Dale served as the cooperative’s representative at the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives for three years.
With 55 years of service, comes a wealth of knowledge about the electric industry, our territory, and the cooperative in general. All of that knowledge and dedication will be deeply missed by the cooperative and the Board of Directors. We sincerely thank Dale for his many years of service to the cooperative and wish him nothing but the best in his new endeavors.
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With Dale’s departure comes a new, but not so new director to District 2. After interviews, the Board appointed Vernon Gwaltney to fill the vacant director seat.
Vernon is a familiar face to the cooperative, as he previously served on the Board of Directors from 1984 to 1996.
A Wayne-White Electric member since 1975, Vernon and his wife Mary Lou live south of Fairfield. They have 3 adult children: Kiley Gwaltney, Kayla Keck, and Katy Stinson.
Vernon is a retired grain and livestock farmer who earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Southern Illinois University.
As a Director in the 1980s and 1990s, Vernon completed several electric cooperative director training courses.
He has also held various offices during a twelve-year stint on the Fairfield Community High School Board.
Vernon and Mary Lou attend the New Hope General Baptist Church where he is a trustee.
The term for District 2 is set to expire at the next annual meeting on June 12, 2026.