Dessie Sales, Sr.

Dessie Sales, Sr. made his journey at 9:00 o'clock Thursday morning, October 22, eighteen days after his 97 ^th birthday. Dessie was preceded in death by his beloved wife Bertha Sales, and son Dessie Sales, Jr. He leaves behind his sons Robert W. Sales and Raymond Sales, his grandchildren Raymond Sales, Jr., Rahsaan Sales (Danielle Jackson-Sales), Rashidah Sales (Floyd Brian Davis), Takeisha Foster (Richard Foster), and Melesia Rana Baker Smith, his great-grandchildren Alexandria Gaines, Rashid Jamal Sales, Lake Fallon Sales, Malik Foster and Maleah Foster, daughters-in-law Yvonne Sales, W. Gail Ferguson, Mary Sales, and Arlene Alexander-Sales, and many favorite cousins and friends, and especially his Jerusalem Baptist Church Family, all of whom loved him dearly.

Dessie moved to Canton in 1949 to escape the Old South in search of a better future in Ohio, where many of his friends and relatives had migrated. He was a sharecropper's son, picking cotton and toiling in the fields before he joined the Army in 1942 and served dutifully in the South Pacific for three years loading big guns that only white men could fire. After going to trade school in Nashville, Tennessee where he studied masonry under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, he was denied access to the construction trades in spite of the fact that he was a highly skilled bricklayer and masonry worker. Instead, he was forced to take jobs in various foundries and steel mills, including a short stay with the Timken Company, and many on-again-off-again stints at Republic Steel, where because he was often the last hired he was among the first to be laid off. But in spite of the frustration that comes with long-term uncertainty in the job market, Dessie never lost his faith in God, and the love of his family, which held together strong even in the worst of times. His success as a father is measured in part by his children, who he sent away to be educated at The Ohio State University, making him proud.

Dessie is best remembered as a loving man, deeply committed to his family and his church. His most admirable trait was his endearing personality and his contagious laugh, and a smile that could light up a room. He loved to go fishing, and in season you could often find him in the garage, or even sitting at the kitchen table with his baseball cap on, fiddling with his fishing rod and rummaging through his tackle box, humming and singing gospel songs. An old blind man in Huntsville taught him how to play piano when he was in his teens. He loved sitting at the kitchen table playing his portable organ. His other love was Cleveland Indians baseball, which he watched faithfully, and always with belief that soon they would win it all. He was loyal and faithful like that, which made him even more of a joy to be with.

And, man, could he pray! Which he did often in good and bad times! So, Dessie, rest in peace, knowing that sweet memories of you will sustain us in the years to come.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, October 22 at noon in the Jerusalem Baptist Church located at 1909 Third Street NE of Canton.

Friends may call 10-12am prior to the funeral Thursday October 22 also in the church.Burial with military honors will be held Friday, October 30th, at 2:30 pm in the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery.

Waltner-SIMCHAK Funeral Home
Locally Owned Since 1917
330-455-0293

​