David Otto Moline, 96, passed into the presence of his Savior on May 26, 2024, surrounded by his family. Born on February 18, 1928 in Spokane, WA, he was the son of Wm. Wesley A. Moline and Edith Karlson Moline. After graduating from Lewis and Clark High School, he attended Washington State University, University of Puget Sound and graduated from the University of Washington School of Dentistry in 1953 with a DDS degree. He also served in the United States Army as a dental technician at the 128th station hospital in Japan, 1946-47. He was in private dental practice for a short time in Spokane and Goldendale, WA before moving to Olympia, WA where he lived until 1974. He met his future wife Natalie there, and they married in 1961. He was very active in church and community, was a founding member of the community mental health center, helped pioneer the group practice model of dentistry, was a Bank of Olympia director, and was prominent in local and county political organizations.
In 1974, he gave up private practice to enter dental education; in his words, “to make a contribution—a difference,” and he became passionate about the importance and role of the general practitioner in healthcare. The family moved to New Orleans, LA, where he was the Director of the General Practice Residency program at Charity Hospital, and was also head of the Dept. of General Dentistry, Louisiana State University. In 1978, the family returned to the Northwest, to Salem, OR, where he entered a group practice and also taught part time at the dental school at Oregon Health Sciences University. In 1983, he and Natalie moved to Iowa City, IA, where he eventually became director of the Hospital General Practice Residency program and Director of the Hospital Dental Clinic at the University of Iowa until he retired in 1992. He and Natalie settled in Philomath, OR, where they built their retirement home, and for the next 22 years, he was in private practice in Salem one day a week. He had a compassionate heart to help those who were financially compromised—he served in Haiti on a medical/dental mission trip and volunteered with Medical Teams International. He fully retired in 2015, after 62 years of dentistry.
Dr. Moline was very active in professional organizations: the Academy of General Dentistry (of which he was both state and national president), Academy of Operative Dentistry, American Board of Operative Dentistry, American Association of Dental Schools, and a Fellow of the American College of Dentists. He also was honored to serve a 4-year term on the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, 1982-86.
In 2010, David lost his dear wife of 49 years, and in 2016, he and his best canine buddy Wea moved to North Idaho, coming full circle, close to his home town of Spokane. He loved being close to family in Spokane and reconnecting and making new friends with the church he grew up in, and he loved his neighborhood in Post Falls, where he was very socially active.
David was very proud of his Swedish heritage—both his parents were children of Swedish immigrants. He visited Sweden several times and kept in touch with his cousins there. David was enormously proud of his blended family of “his, hers, and ours” children, along with the many grandchildren and great-grandchildren—he had a deep love for his family and a strong sense of heritage. He relished spending time with family and friends; he valued keeping in touch with friends he made throughout the many years of his life, in the US and abroad. He loved God’s wonderful creation—he enjoyed fishing, hunting, boating, gardening and traveling. A voracious reader, he was a lifelong learner and was interested in just about every subject under the sun, especially history, which made for great conversations with him. Photography, wood-crafting and jewelry-making brought out his creative side—he loved making things for his family. He was always ready to lend a helping hand, and he had a terrific sense of humor, a can-do attitude about life, and a courageous heart in growing old. His faith was from his childhood, but was a journey from here to there, and back again; his later years saw a renewal of his faith and walk with the Lord. He had a big presence in our lives, was greatly loved and will be deeply missed.
David was predeceased by his wife Natalie, sister RuthAnn Clarke, sister Nancy Lavens, and sons Wade Moline and Brian Moline, and great-grandson Lukas Liechty. He is survived by his brother Bill (Babs) Moline, his children Kim (Judy) Moline, Annette (Mike) White, Bruce (Rita) Moline, and Karen (Mitch) Bourgeois; grandchildren Sarah (Jason) Liechty, Doug (Christine) White, Raymond (Rebecca) White, Andrea (Chris) Tuliao, Stephanie Moline, Charis (Dan) Fishter, Jill (Derek) Williams, Faith (Conner) Neal, Taylor Moline and Taralynn Moline, along with 11 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
A celebration of life service will be held on Friday, September 13th at 4:00 p.m. at The Gathering House Church, 733 W Garland Ave, Spokane, WA. In lieu of flowers, if you would like to give a gift in honor of David, please consider the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle).
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