Obituary of Lida Birdsall Hale

Lida Birdsall Hale passed away peacefully in the comfort of her son’s home in Centreville, VA on October 26, 2012 after a courageous struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 81. Lida was born on June 13, 1931 in Asbury Park, NJ. She attended Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) in Westminster, MD before marrying Ira Vanson Hale III of Wayne, PA. The couple settled in Orchard Park, NY, where she was a member of, and administrator for, the Orchard Park Presbyterian Church. As one of its Volunteers in Mission, she served at Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and relocated to Homestead, FL to aid victims of Hurricane Andrew. A loving homemaker for most of her life, Lida moved with her husband to Ocean City, NJ, where she lived for the past 20 years and became a member of the St. Peter’s Methodist Church. Preceded in death by her husband in 1990 and grandson Ian Porter Hale in 2000, she was an avid gardener and doting grandmother and great-grandmother who enjoyed having family visit her in Ocean City every summer. Surrounded by all of her children as she passed, she is survived by daughters Deborah Hale Smith and husband Randolph Smith of Stafford, VA and Virginia Hale Meredith and husband William Meredith of Lake Worth, FL; sons William V. Hale and wife Babette Broman Hale of Centreville, VA and David B. Hale and wife Ingrid Katrina Hale of Hamilton, NY, and grandchildren Daniel B. Smith, Katherine Smith Campbell, Haley A. Smith, Steven D. B. Hale, Jared W. B. Hale, Matthew A. B. Hale, Kelly H. Williams, Conor J. Williams, Samuel V. Hale, Katrina E. Hale, and Curtis M. Hale. A memorial service for Lida will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 3, 2012 at Knox Presbyterian Church, 7416 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, VA 22042 (where her son William Hale is pastor). In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to Knox Presbyterian Church and to Inspirit, P.O. Box 248, Lake Worth, FL 33460 (www.inspiritlive.org).