Dallas Roy Machen

Dallas Roy Machen came into this world on December 6, 1933 and grew up in the small town of Rexburg, Idaho. The oldest son of the robust and hard-working couple Josephine and Ryland Machen, Dallas was an active child with natural physical talents and blessed with the gift of gab. When Dallas was eight, the family moved to Sacramento on a Greyhound bus when Ryland found extended carpentry work at Beale Air Force base during the Second World War. 

Simply known as “Dal,” he was extremely popular with his peers and classmates and excelled in sports. He was a star high school basketball player for the McClatchy Lions earning a basketball scholarship to the University of the Pacific in 1952.  He competed against basketball legends like K.C Jones and Bill Russell. Later, Dallas graduated from Utah State University in 1957.

After university, Dallas began a nearly 20 year career in the consumer goods business.  He started at Low Cost Drugs in Logan, UT, gaining valuable experience that eventually prepared him to manage several Sav-On Drugs stores in Southern California.  

It was in Utah that Dallas met his first wife, Sue Stone. Together, they had two children, daughter Julie and son Adam. Dallas also began to develop his lifelong obsession with the game of golf. He immediately took to the game like a duck to water despite being introduced late to the game in his twenties. Over the years, he not only played innumerous rounds all over the world, but also had 6 hole-in-ones.

Dallas eventually moved back to Sacramento in 1973 and met Janice English. Together they had son Scott, and Dallas became stepfather to Jan’s son Jason. In his later years, he married Linda Heath. Together they enjoyed Linda’s incredible home cooking, gardening, watching golf tournaments, Kings basketball, SF 49ers, and the LA Dodgers. He and Linda enjoyed a successful second career in the early 2000s, when he formed Dallas Machen & Associates as Manufacturer Representatives.

Dallas is survived by his oldest sister Betty Flamm (née Machen) of Sacramento and his younger brother Dennis Machen of Sandy, Utah; his children Julie Ann Hale of Utah, Adam Bateman of Cape Town—South Africa, and Scott Machen of Gold River, California, as well as many loving grandchildren: Nicholas, Emeril, Etienne, Kiran, Vaughn, and Elise.

Known to countless acquaintances, friends, and family members as the “life of the party,” Dal was an essential element to having a good time and a good laugh. This was the attractive and powerful gravity of Dallas. He filled every room he walked into with exuberance and endless memorable jokes.

Dallas will be greatly missed but never forgotten. The family is positive he is already playing the finest heavenly golf courses the Lord has to offer above the clouds. 

A celebration of life will be held at Northridge Country Club, February 25th, 2024 at 12pm.  Price Funeral Chapel (916-725-2109), directors.

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