A farmer-turned-politician who, in his wife's words, "never met a stranger," Dale Schrock was on his way to Corvallis to have breakfast with friends when he died Saturday in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 99W just south of town. He was 80.

Schrock was a regular at Sharon's Cafe, a South Corvallis eatery popular with farmers, construction workers and others who start the day early.

"On Saturdays he always went into Sharon's at 6 for coffee ... and to talk to all the guys," Virginia Schrock said of her late husband.

"He knew everybody, and everybody knew him."

In addition to his wife, Schrock is survived by a son, Mike Schrock of Corvallis; five daughters, Beci Loeschen and Laura Schrock Maxwell, both of Corvallis, Charlene Mahon of Albuquerque, N.M., and Debra Schrock Vidis and Nancy Schrock Garcia, both of Roseville, Calif.; 19 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. Another son, Vernon Earl Schrock, was killed in action in 1970 while serving with the Army in Vietnam.

Raised in a farm family, Dale Schrock bought his own spread on Smith Loop in 1955, growing mostly row crops such as green beans, strawberries and raspberries. He was never more at home than when he was driving a tractor.

"That was his therapy," said Mike Schrock, who took over operation of the family farm after his dad went into politics.

Dale Schrock's foray into government began in the early 1970s, when he joined the Benton County Planning Commission, where he backed Hewlett-Packard's controversial plans to plant a high-tech campus in Corvallis. He also helped draw up the county's first comprehensive land use plan - then had to do it all over again after the state Land Conservation and Development Commission was created. Years later, he backed a ballot measure to dismantle the LCDC and return land planning to county control.

Schrock served as a Benton County commissioner for 16 years, from 1975 to 1991. During his tenure, Schrock oversaw the construction of the joint city-county law enforcement center and a new jail in downtown Corvallis, the renovation of the Benton County Courthouse and the construction of a network of bicycle paths. To mark the opening of a path in Adair Village, he staged a bike race with the mayor.

He was known as a champion of the county's rural residents, consistently supporting road improvements and sticking up for property owners who wanted to build houses on farm or forest land despite state land use rules.

While he fought to keep sprawl out of unincorporated parts of the county, he advocated for economic development and planned growth in urban areas. "We can't just shut the door and say stay away," he commented during his first election campaign in 1974.

He had a folksy sense of humor that came through in his political career. Asked how he won his first election, he replied, "I got more votes than my opponent, I guess." When a reporter tried to pin him down on a confusing position, he joked: "Sometimes I confuse myself."

And in 1989, toward the end of his tenure in elective office, he welcomed rookie commissioners Pam Folts and John Dilworth to the board by giving them each a pair of rose-colored glasses.

"After a reasonable period of time," he assured them, "things will look clearer."

Barbara Ross served on the Board of Commissioners with Schrock for 10 years. Even though she was a Democrat and he was a Republican, Ross said, he never let ideology get in the way of good government.

"He was always very courteous and gentlemanly," Ross said. "Sometimes we were on different sides of the political fence, but mainly county problems are just practical problems, and we always worked well together."

Schrock sometimes managed to combine his love of farming and his work in county government. When it came time to grade the site for the new law enforcement center, for instance, he climbed into a bulldozer and did part of the work himself.

He made a point of getting to know as many county employees as possible, and when he stepped down as a commissioner, they repaid his kindness by presenting him with a black Labrador retriever puppy named BC, for Benton County.

The two were inseparable. Schrock even built a wooden box for his tractor so BC could ride along.

"When he fired up that tractor, that dog was in that box," his son recalled. "They were all over that farm."

Schrock was a longtime supporter of the Benton County Fair, both as a county commissioner and as a participant, recalled Don Studier, the fair manager from 1995 to 2001. Schrock restored antique tractors as a hobby, and one of his favorite events at the fair was the tractor pull. He emceed the competition for a number of years and would sometimes climb behind the wheel himself.

"He competed, and then his granddaughter Dayle Ann competed, so he passed it down," Studier said.

He also got involved with the livestock events, recalled his daughter Beci Loeschen.

"He was the first commissioner ever to take part in the goat-milking contest," she said.

Although Schrock cut back on his work around the farm after going into public service, he never lost his love for farming, recalled Loren J. Smith Jr., whose own farm is just down the road from Schrock's.

"He was always very much involved in the agricultural community, and he placed a real value on farmland and preserving it," Smith said.

Schrock was active in the National Farmers Organization. In recent years he played an active role in establishing a new irrigation district for the Greenberry area, despite his failing health, and he was always around to lend a hand.

"Whenever I needed any help, Dale was always available," Smith said. "I couldn't ask for a better neighbor."

Apparently, Smith wasn't the only one who felt that way. When Virginia Schrock decided to invite just family and neighbors to her husband's 80th birthday party this summer, 120 people showed up.

"Afterward, he very humbly thanked me," she said. "Now I am so happy we did that."

Bennett Hall can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall

@lee.net.