John Garland Hale

John Garland Hale, 67, the son of a pioneer Hansford County family, passed away peacefully on June 25, 2015, in Palmer.

A graveside service was at Hansford Cemetery, Spearman, Texas. Arrangements were by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, Spearman, Texas.

Hale was born on Feb. 28, 1948, in the Perryton, Texas, hospital to S.B. Hale Jr., and Pauline Owen Hale. He was raised on his family farm and ranch on the Palo Duro Creek, site of the former county seat of Hansford County.

He attended school in Gruver and graduated high school in 1966. He attended West Texas State University for one year and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He graduated from the Naval Hospital Corps School in 1968 and was stationed with a U.S. Marine Corps Battalion in the Caribbean as a combat medic.

After being honorably discharged from the Navy, he returned to Amarillo, Texas, and enrolled as a student at Northwest Texas Hospital Nursing School. He graduated as a Registered Nurse and because of his education and Navy service, he went to work in the infant intensive care program in the Panhandle.

He moved to Palmer in 1985, and worked for the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center until his retirement.

He is survived by a sister, Mona Hale, of Santa Fe, New Mexico; brothers, Dr. Thomas Hale and wife Quetha of Amarillo, and Selden B. Hale III and wife Claudia Stravato of Amarillo; nieces and nephews, Sarah Hale Uselding and Selden B. Hale IV, of Amarillo, Texas, Maria Hale of Childress, David Hale and Monica Bull of Dallas, Texas, and Michael Hale of San Francisco, California.

A celebration of life is planned in early August.