Darrell Dean Boothe

Darrell Dean “Dewey” Boothe, 87, passed away in Des Moines on March 1, 2022. A Celebration of Life visitation will be held from 1-3 p.m. Friday, April 29, 2022 at Hamilton’s on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines.

Dad was born in Williamson, IA on November 25, 1934. While in grade school, his family moved to Burlington, IA. It was there that he met the “love of my life”, Dorothy Herring while in junior high. They were married in 1953 until mom’s death in 2018. It was also there that he picked up the nickname of “Dewey” for which he would be known the rest of his life. They moved to Des Moines and started a family.

Dad was for always trying to better himself and his family. Not long after buying their first house in 1958, dad started finishing the basement. He remodeled every house he ever owned and later started flipping houses before it was even called “flipping”. He started work in Des Moines at a local beer distributorship in the warehouse, and quickly moved to deliveries and then to sales. No doubt that delivering the heavy beer cases and kegs of beer contributed to his bad back, which plagued him most of his life. In 1965 he bought a local south side tavern and called it “Dewey’s Tavern” with a bold sign that read “Coldest 6-Paks in Town!” He knew the temperatures of beer coolers from his previous job, and set his coolers to 2 degrees colder so he could back up his claim.

After selling the tavern he became a realtor and not long after a real estate broker and full partner in Bell Realty in Des Moines. It was during this period when he suffered most from back pain but his job was 100% commission and he had a family to take care of, so he often went to work in agonizing pain. Some would tease him about his usual stern look, but most of the time he was masking his pain.

Always with an eye out for opportunity in which to improve his family, in 1973 he bought the first of six Baskin-Robbins franchises stores in the Des Moines-Ames area. Our entire family worked at the stores at some point for a combined 80 years and several stores were the highest grossing stores in Iowa. Dad never lost his taste for ice cream up to the day he died.

Dad was an avid fisherman and hunter, teaching his sons how to do both. In his retirement, he nearly became obsessed with fishing for crappies and went as often as possible. He also restored two cars, a 1953 baby-blue Cadillac convertible and later a 1965 black Cadillac convertible.

Dad was preceded in death by our mom, Dorothy, in 2018, and by the youngest son, Jerry in 2016. He is survived by his sons, Mike (also known as Dewey, after dad) of Overland Park, KS and Doug, of Norwalk, IA; and daughter-in-law, JoAnn Boothe.

Mike and Doug would like to thank the staff at EveryStep Kavanagh House for their excellent and personal care for dad while he was in hospice. In lieu of any flowers, we suggest donations to Kavanagh House. And when possible, take a kid fishing.

Online condolences may be expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

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