Carl Franklin Dilley, Jr., 83, died Sunday, May 11, 2025. He was born October 22, 1941, in Laramie, Wyoming, to Carl Franklin Dilley, Sr., and Eunice Inez Loveless Dilley. Carl was a 1959 graduate of Central High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with Secondary Teaching from Northeastern State College in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. In 1985, Carl earned a Master's degree in special education from Fort Hays University in Hays, Kansas.

Carl married LaVeta May Hawkins on July 12, 1963, at the First Lutheran Church in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Carl and LaVeta moved to Eastern Colorado where Carl began his industrial arts teaching career at Plainview Junior and Senior High School in Sheridan Lake, Colorado. Carl taught at Plainview for 16 years before moving to Larned, Kansas, to teach at Westside High School at the Larned State Hospital for another 16 years. In 1986, Carl's Westside High colleagues nominated him for the prestigious Kansas Master Teacher Award for his work in establishing the high school industrial arts program on their campus. After Westside High, Carl would go on to teach briefly at Great Bend High School, Plainville High School, and Kinsley High School before finishing his teaching career as an industrial arts teacher at Pawnee Heights High School in Rozel, Kansas, where he taught for 9 more years. Carl retired from teaching in 2007. Throughout his teaching career, Carl sponsored numerous senior trips, school plays, concession stands and school bus routes. During his summer break, Carl took on extra jobs in the community, including working grain harvest at the elevator, flagging for a spray pilot, and collecting cattle bones from pastures to haul to Pueblo, CO, for bone china.

Another passion of Carl's was his service to the Lord. Carl briefly considered a career in the church but recognized that he didn't have the patience for funerals, weddings, and hospital visits and knew he was better suited to serve the Lord as a dedicated parishioner. Carl was a member of Grace Lutheran Church, Larned, Kansas, where he served more than 20 years as an elder and head trustee. Carl and LaVeta served over 10 years as youth sponsors, escorting teens to volleyball tournaments and conferences around the country.

Carl is predeceased by his parents and is survived by his brother Jim Dilley, Corpus Christi, TX; sisters Donna Kitchens, Arvada, CO, and Kay Bigley, Brighton, CO; children and spouses Karalee (Darin) Huck, Dodge City; Matt Dilley, Larned, and Robin (Jason) VanAtta, Salina; grandchildren Brady (Cara) Huck, Dodge City; Mara (Clint) Goebel, Dodge City; Dane VanAtta, Salina; Morgan Dilley and Kit Dilley, Dodge City; and great-grandchildren Cash Huck, Camden Huck, Bennett Goebel, Bowen Goebel, Carson Huck, and Brooks Goebel.

Carl's life as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, friend, colleague, teacher, mentor and community member will be honored on Thursday, June 12, at 4:00 pm at Beckwith Mortuary in Larned, KS. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the Pawnee Heights Enhancement Fund in care of Beckwith Mortuary, PO Box 477, Larned, Kansas. A private interment will be held at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, CO, at a later date.