October 25, 1951 ~ February 25, 2010 | ||
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| Thoughts from a spouse who knows how much she was loved: Hal claimed he was a troll when I met him 20 years ago. Now some of us are lucky to have at least one amazing moment in life when we meet an individual, and know without a doubt, in our head and our heart, from the start, that this person was tailor-made for us – I was that ‘some’ one. Hal had a wonderful habit of telling me from another room in the house that he loved me and that I was the most beautiful woman in the world. He would open every door for me and reach over in the night to hold my hand. Our first date was pie and coffee at Marie Callender’s and as he smiled at me across the table, I will never forget the electric sparkle in his eyes. Our first kiss he attempted after pulling into his driveway and as he moved his head towards me in the dark, the motion detector yard light beamed directly in on us. He had proudly installed it and I had to laugh at the irony. John Steinbeck’s line came to mind, “The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry. If Hal thought someone needed help, he would expend his resources most often with the objective to make sure whomever he was helping would come out ahead. His worth shined on a daily basis in businesses and homes that he wired across the valley. Hal was smart, but many people didn’t know why he was smart. It was because he never let a problem go until he found the answer. He died of a heart attack in the middle of solving a computer problem for a long-time dear friend, Tom Brooks. Again, John Steinbeck’s line came to my mind. Hal didn’t like to dress up, so it was a good thing he had me when, on short notice, he was asked to photograph a dinner at the Federal Reserve Bank. It took some convincing that he couldn’t wear what he usually wore to photograph the Deseret News Marathon on Pioneer Day. I was able to persuade a downtown tailor, with only 4 hours to go until the dinner that his new slacks needing hemming. There are many good people in this world, and that day a seamstress proved she was one of them. During the Vietnam War, Hal served as a Navy Seal. After 2 tours of duty in-country and 4 helicopter crashes, it is a wonder he survived. I always told him the rest of his life should just be “icing on the cake” having gotten through that horrible experience. Hal’s mother, Shirley, passed away with the terrible disease Alzheimer’s, which takes too many of our loved ones. Hal had a special connection to his dad (La Rue) and they were lucky to work together on a carpentry project only a few months back. Hal had a cantankerous affection for his younger sisters, Cindy Wood (Ward Perschon), Kathey (Paul) Neff, and Leisa (Gary) Groscost. Families are of the strongest fiber and live life with the most gusto when you see the ties to each other are tight, but are always being tested. They feel it to the bone to be there for each other in a time of need. Hal’s uncle Jim Brown was a good example of this, as he enjoyed the role of a surrogate older brother when Hal was young. As an adult, Hal was very close to 2 of his cousins, Jim Brown Jr. and Mark Silver. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought many times they were triplets and shared the computer secrets of the Rosicrucians. A celebration of life, or shindig is being held for Hal and we want the people who loved him or have a particular score to settle to come. His sister Cindy has been so kind to offer her “Woods” Hall at 6775 South 900 East from 3 to 5 pm Thursday, March 4, 2010. We could not do this without the incredible generosity of Hal’s dearest friends, John Aitken family’s Soup Kitchen here in the Salt Lake Valley. We would like to thank Larkin Mortuary for showing us again and again through the years, how wonderful their service is in our deepest periods of grief. – Heidi Hadley | ||
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