Charles Dale Copenhaver
January 9, 1957-April 1, 1991
Born in Ulm, West Germany, Dale Copenhaver (born Erwin Zimmerman) got his start in skating at the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs. With partner Dana Jo Boles, he won the novice pairs title at the Midwestern Championships in Denver in 1976. Three years later, he won the same title with his second partner Kelly Herman. Kelly and Dale were also the 1979 Upper Great Lakes Champions. He passed away at the age of thirty-four on April 1, 1991.
Dale's obituary from "Skating" magazine: "Charles Dale Copenhaver, 34, of Colorado Springs died recently after a long illness. He was previously employed as night manager at the Sertich Ice Center and was a figure skating coach for five years. He lived in Colorado Springs 32 years and was attending the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where he was a junior. He was an amateur skater off-and-on for 15 years at the Broadmoor World Arena and at Sertich Ice Center. He competed with pairs partner Dana Boles. He is survived by his partner and best friend Mark Motiff of Colorado Springs; his twin sister Donna Jean Plante, also of Colorado Springs; a brother, Helmut Henzler of Langenau, Germany; and a half-sister, Lori Rau, also of Langenau. Contributions in his memory may be made to the USFSA Memorial Fund."
Memories from Dale's partner Mark: "He was born in Germany. His parents put him and his twin sister Donna up for adoption and they were adopted by the Copenhaver family. They started in Kansas and they moved to Colorado Springs. I met him in 1984. I worked at a local hospital and his partner was admitted with AIDS. That's how I met Dale. We were all gowned up and PPE'd. His partner died shortly thereafter and he and I got together. I knew he was likely HIV positive at the time we met, but that was not a player in how our relationship evolved. He was diagnosed in 1985. I was negative and he was positive. I remember coming out of the treatment center and it was a pretty stunning situation. He was very healthy for a long time but he dealt with fevers and other issues... We were lucky enough to go to Alaska and camp with a couple of friends of ours. He worked at Hewlett-Packard full-time for quite a while assembling chip boards. He would occasionally go down to the arena and skate, but that was something he did on his own. He was a big fan of Toller Cranston and he had some of his prints, which I have hanging today... In 1988-89, he started getting sicker. We had had four or five good years and then things went south. It was a very miserable, devastating end of life for him. I wish he would have got back to Germany. He was connecting with his family there when we were together."
*Source for inclusion: Interview with Mark Motiff, April 2021
