This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Hale, Gleason, Beckton Classification: obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.idaho.counties.bearlake/1991/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Idaho State Journal, 01/30/07 POCATELLO - Tandy Ray Hale, age 87, of Pocatello, died Sunday, January 28, 2007, with his loving family at his bedside. He was born March 1, 1919, in Chalk Butte, South Dakota, the first child of Charles Henry and Nellie Fay Gleason Hale. He was raised on a sheep ranch and was schooled in Stoneville, South Dakota. He was in military service with the Army from December 1943 to May 1946, and from October 1944 to May 1946 he served his country during World War II in Germany as a scout/messenger, for which he received the Bronze Star, and as an entertainment specialist. While in England, waiting to be shipped to the European Theater, he met the only girl he ever loved. After the war ended he married Elizabeth Ann Beckton in Poole, Dorset, England, on March 21, 1946. He shipped back home and waited for his new bride in New York City, and then they traveled by car to the western U.S. During his lifetime he worked as a rancher, an explosives expert in the oil fields of Wyoming, a miner at Anaconda Copper in Butte, Montana, and a welder for Central Farmers Fertilizer Company in Georgetown, Idaho. In 1964 he moved his family to Pocatello, where he worked for J.R. Simplot Company as a specialized welder and troubleshooter till 1977. He belonged to the International Association of Machinists and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union. His love, and great gift, was music. He was a very talented musician and, although he never learned to read music, he could hear a tune once and play it flawlessly before the day was over. He played saxophone, clarinet, trumpet and fiddle. His signature tune on the sax was "In the Mood" and "Panhandle Rag" was his fiddle favorite. Most weekends he could be found on a bandstand where many, many people have enjoyed dancing to his music. He was a member of the Old Time Fiddlers and a men's state champion. He fostered the love of music in all his children, and we always looked forward to jamming at Dad and Mom's house. Curly Clark and the Fiddling Hales played as the opening act for Ronnie Stoneman and Tommy Cash when they toured here in the early '70s. After retirement, he and his wife played as a duo and called themselves Semi-Live. They played for the seniors at Lewis and Clark school a couple Saturday evenings a month until their move to Salmon in 1995. He loved the beauty and solitude at their home there, and lived there till 2004, when they returned to Pocatello. He loved animals and they loved him. He enjoyed baseball, camping, horseshoes and a nice cold beer. He was a man that always put everyone else before himself. He is survived by his five children, Valerie (Luis) Rios, Pat (Bob) Pasley, Jan (Steve) Adams, Chuck (Kim) Hale, Ali Sweet (Dale Wright); 14 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren; two brothers and two sisters, Dale (Glenda) Hale, Charles (MaryLou) Hale, Estelene Watts and Peggy Buntin. He was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth, and three grandsons. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Downard Funeral Home, 241 N. Garfield Ave. Funeral services will be Thursday, February 1 at 1 p.m. in the funeral home chapel, Pastor Amy Lamb officiating. Military graveside rites will be offered by the Pocatello Veterans Honor Guard.