Obituary: Gary Lee Hall

Gary Lee Hall, 73, passed away due to natural causes Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, at Northern Montana Care Center.

As per Gary's wishes, no services are planned.

His family has requested that memorial donations be made to the Gary Hall Memorial Fund, c/o Bear Paw Credit Union, 201 2nd Ave., Havre, MT 59501.

Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements.

Please visit Gary's online memorial page at http://www.hollandbonine.com to leave a message of condolence for the family.

Gary was born Nov. 3, 1943, at the Farragut Naval Training Center near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to George Manning and Neoma Irene (Peile) Hall. Gary attended Missoula County schools, graduating from Missoula County High School and the University of Montana with degrees in zoology and chemistry. He married Karen Bergh of Hamilton, and the couple later divorced. He then met and fell in love with Pati Killebrew, and they were later married.

Gary joined the U.S. Air Force in 1968. His favorite position was hurricane penetration missions in the Caribbean and South Pacific; arctic winter weather observation flights; rain making and fog dissipation experiments; and Apollo Space Craft launch weather missions.

Other than his time as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, he lived and worked in Montana, in Missoula, Florence, Hamilton, Kalispell, Havre and Great Falls. Gary worked as a broker/realtor in Ravalli County; as chief chemist and microbiologist for the Montana Environmental Lab in Kalispell; pharmaceutical chemist and microbiologist in quality control for Ribi Lab in Ravalli County; and as director of Montana Environmental Training Center in Havre.

Gary's passions were out-of-doors: mountain climbing, skiing, both downhill and cross country, photography, and jazz and blues, playing drums professionally since high school. Gary was very active in the National Ski Patrol System, including Alpine Ski Patrol, Ski Mountaineering, and Nordic Ski patrol. He organized the Northern Division Ski Mountaineering programs throughout Montana and Wyoming. As a member of the National Nordic Advisory Committee, he helped develop the Nordic Ski Patrol program on a national level and was a ski patroller for many years. He patrolled at Marshall, Snow Bowl, Bridger Bowl, Lost Trail, Bitterroot Nordic and Flathead Nordic. Both Snow Bowl and Lost Trail earned National Outstanding Patrol awards while he was with them. He also served as the instructor for many courses for NSPS.

Gary was preceded in death by his parents, George and Neoma Hall.

He is survived by his wife, Pati Killebrew-Hall, Havre; brother, Ronald Hall, Woodbridge, Virginia; sister, Neoma (Rene) Sol, Sartell, Minnesota; and niece, Katrina (Katja) Sias, and her family, Sartell, Minnesota.