A homecoming celebration service for Peyton, Colo., resident Elizabeth (Ms. Betty) Jean (Allen) Hale was held at Heart of Worship Church Oct. 14. Mrs. Hale, age 88, passed from this life Oct. 12 at her home following a brief illness. She was surrounded by family and friends. Many of her current music students, hearing of her illness, came to her home to play the piano and sing for her.Ms. Betty, as she was affectionately called, was the youngest of three children born to Mervin E. Allen and Catherine (Ward) Allen of Pond Creek, Okla. She graduated from Pond Creek High School in Oklahoma in 1941. Following high school graduation, she attended Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, where she studied music.World War II interrupted her education, but before her high school boyfriend, Benton Hale, was shipped overseas, she traveled to his base in Alamogordo, N.M. During that visit, they made a quick decision to get married Sept. 6, 1942. They were married 56 years before Benton died.In 1973, they left their home in Cherokee, Okla., where they had raised their family, to follow a call to the ministry. Both Betty and Benton loved people and took every opportunity to help those in need.For the last 35 years she has lived in Colorado, teaching music and ministering to people. Until one week prior to her homecoming, she was still teaching voice and piano in her home for Meeker Music Co. in Colorado Springs. In addition, she played in the church band and spent time with friends. She truly loved Colorado and its people, and was well known for her private forest that she grew from twigs.Ms. Betty was preceded in death by her husband, Benton Norwood Hale, on March 6, 1999; her parents Mervin and Catherine Allen; her brother Meredith; and sister Althea.She is survived by her sons James Benton Hale and wife, Sharon, of Alva, Okla.; and Steven Allen Hale and wife, Deborah, of Shawnee, Okla.; eight grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren. She was laid to rest next to her husband in a family plot in Hazelton, Kan.
