Born September 29, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. Died February 11, 2008 in Austin, Texas

Circa 1949-50, my cousin John Hale visited the Close family in Los Angeles. My best friends Denny, Terry and Mike Devitt were rapt with John’s playfulness and attention. John showed us how to play mumble-t-peg on the large green outside our Village Green front door. I was proud that the Devitts spoke admiringly of John years after his visit.

Though John‘s visits were rare, he was often the topic of admiring family conversation. Kingsley and John had a long history and deep affection for one another. Whenever the two were together they engaged in ceaseless banter and chuckles. As a youngster, though I seldom could follow their conversation, I could share in wonder, their unabashed glee.

Perhaps testament to my awe and respect for John, at age 12 or so, I came home from a visit to the barber when John declared “Hey, you got your ears lowered!”. I took the expression literally and fretted for months about the relocation of my ears.

October 1966, after graduating from LB State, I took a trip to Europe by way of the Hale’s in Halesite, Long Island. On that visit John took me and his family sailing on his 22 foot sloop, JEBAH (acronym for John, Beverly and Betty Ann Hale). Thus, I learned to sail and was allowed to solo on those halcyon days of autumn whilst sipping a quart of John’s favorite ale from a green bottle. Such was his influence, when John admonished me not to smoke on that ‘66 visit, I never did again.

Somewhere in Italy on my October 1966 European hitchhiking adventure, I ran low on funds. I wrote John a letter appealing for cash. Promptly, he sent $$$ to the American Express office in Zurich, Switzerland. That money arrived in the nick of time as I spent my last Swiss Franc on ale at a tavern in the snowy Swiss alps. I later wrote John my plan to travel the world one step ahead of my creditors.

March 17, 1969 I received a call from John requesting that I pick him up at LAX at the end of his inbound TWA flight. At the airport, I searched for John as passengers and crew filed out the exit corridor. I spotted two pilots and asked if they knew John Hale. Reverentially, they replied, “he’s our Captain and he’s right behind us”. Another lasting moment of pride for my esteemed cousin John.

As I grew older, John’s influence as a TWA pilot took hold and I eventually earned commercial, instrument and flight instructor ratings in light aircraft. In 1970, shortly after receiving my ratings, John, Beverly, Betty and my Mom flew to Baja California in a Cherokee 6, John had rented at Orange County airport. A dream come true: flying co-pilot next to PIC John. I have pictures of us lounging in the sun at Mulege; memories of ice cold Margaritas in friendly Mexican bars.

When John spoke, I often put my brain in “record”, so amusing, intriguing or profound were his words.

Nobody could tell a joke better than John, and he had an endless supply. When reading these, bear in mind the era and our youthfulness. Told to me c 1959: “Confucius say man who lose key, get no new key.” Or “watch out for that tennis ball! What tennis ba… !” In the 50’s, Japan made low quality merchandise. To get around the stigma of “Made in Japan“, John said they made items in Usa, Japan so they could say made in USA. Once, upon landing the Cherokee 6 at a dirt strip in Baja, John triumphantly shouted, “We cheated death again!” A joke about the Pope needing to have a female consort in order to save his ailing life. At first the Pope won’t hear of it. Finally after much protestation he agrees. When asked what kind of woman would he like, he says “we’ll she must be a devout Catholic, unquestionably a virgin, and of course Italian and certainly moral and, well,…. how about size DD.” John obtained a large fake gorilla head in Egypt. The story goes, when he landed his 747 at JFK, he held the head up to the cockpit window to give the appearance a large gorilla was at the controls.

Comfortable in the spotlight, John was an entertaining toastmaster. In 1976, at the Centerport yacht club, John raised a glass to Beverly Hale and another lady, saying “to the two most beautiful women in NY.” Then added, “wherever they may be.” He would always cheer aloud (in front of the wives) whenever I said I was still single. And holler “you’ll be sorry”, whenever he passed a wedding ceremony. His humor could be at someone’s expense, but was never (too) mean spirited. Wry humor and friendly insults were John’s way of expressing (or concealing) his affection.

John’s long term memory was sharp to the last. On my October 2007 visit, upon reading a quote (Democracy gives everyone the right to be their own oppressor) he correctly identified the author as James Russell. He also recalled my pet chameleons of 1956 and named one: Scarface. We shared a laugh when I recalled the other two: Fang and One Eye. Though he spent much time in bed due to health issues, when I said we were going to dinner, he immediately said “OK, let’s go!” It was so good to hear his familiar laugh and enjoy his still sharp wit.

John’s health was trending down in 2007 despite Betty Hale’s best efforts to address his ailments. Finally it was determined that he had a faulty heart valve. It was hoped that an operation to repair the valve would restore John’s oxygen uptake and ultimately, his health. I believe the operation was performed on February 7, 2008. Initially, it appeared to have gone well. However by Sunday, post operative complications arose and Betty Hale was unhappily put in the position of having to carry out John’s wishes to not be placed on life support. Betty courageously complied with his wish and John’s Dr’s best advice. On Monday then, John was removed from medication and life support and peacefully passed away with Betty and close friends at his side.

It was unsettling to watch my boyhood idol drift out of the limelight over time. Suffice to say, John will always be my hero.

This from John’s beloved Sister Martha (Marty) Hale:

As to recollections of John, another early memory I have is this: as a youngster, I was angry, intractable (sp?) & insecure. I wanted so much to be a part of John's life & activities, but he had placed neatly lettered signs on his door saying things like "STAY OUT! GENIUS AT WORK!" Naturally, I took this as a sign of rejection. I repeatedly ripped the signs off. However, he would patiently replace them, & life went on. One Christmas, though, John's present to me was a lab apron with "LABORATORY ASSISTANT" stitched on it. I was so deeply moved, I cried. His door had opened to me. Of course, there was a flip side: this gave me the dubious honor of washing dirty test tubes & cleaning up the "laboratory" in his room!

I also remember a sobering time in his life. As a senior in high school, John received the Bausch & Lomb science award, a very high honor. During the summer, he rested on his laurels & continued to do so in his freshman year at Iowa State. He flunked out that year & spent the summer working at very hard labor, then managed to regain entrance to college. This was a moment of transformation for him, & also a valuable lesson in humility. It served him well after that. I'm sure other memories will come through, & I will send them on as they occur.

My much-loved cousin Dave Cooper called me last night (Jim's older brother) from his home in Madison, WI & we reminisced some more. (One of the great things about this is that other people remember things which we have
forgotten!!) Dave's strongest memory was about the summer (1946) when the three of us undertook the huge task of painting our house in Burlington. It was a big house, but becomes HUGE when one is painting it! Of course, we got a lot of paint on ourselves & each other & lost quite a bit when buckets were dropped from the height of a tall ladders. Anyway, Dave remembered my yelling at John for taking 6-7 salt tablets at a time, saying "John, you're going to kill yourself!!" Funny what comes through, isn't it???

Steve Close and Martha Hale February 28, 2008