Hale, John Kincaid
John Kincaid Hale, P.E., 85 of Narrows, passed away Sunday, February 15th, 2015. Mr. Hale was born in Narrows, Giles County, Virginia on May 16th, 1929, and was the son of the Honorable Chapman McComas Hale and Mary Hopkins Hale.
His great-great grandfather, Edward Hale, was a soldier of the Revolutionary War and an early pioneer in frontier Virginia. Edward served with other patriots at the Battle of Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina. Mr. Hale, the younger, was born in a farmhouse on the bank of Wolf Creek. This house was on land that had been awarded to Edward Hale for his service in the Continental Army. John returned to that home in 1999 at his retirement, and he took great pleasure in his life there.
Mr. Hale was a member of the Class of 1946 at Narrows High School, after which he became a student at Emory and Henry College for three years, and was always welcomed there as an “alumnus.” He was an annual member of the E&H Patrick Henry Society. He completed his first degree at Virginia Tech with the Class of 1951. In July of that same year, he was inducted into the United States Army and served in the Chemical Corps at Camp Detrick, Frederick, Maryland. He then returned to Virginia Tech and completed his Master’s Degree in Agricultural Engineering in 1954.
His first and only career appointment was in New Holland, Pennsylvania, where he served in various engineering capacities for more than 42 years. The present Case-New Holland Company has honored him with the title, Master Inventor. He holds 29 patents which were actively incorporated into commercial design. His inventions, and those of others, made it possible for a single man to harvest crops without the sizable workforce of previous generations. He also exerted a major effort in machinery safety, having been involved in approval and requirement of rollover bar protection for tractors, and an effort in promoting the use of slow-moving vehicle emblems.
Mr. Hale moved into management, supervising design, later serving as senior design manager. He worked in the international field for approximately 30 years. His work included unnumbered worldwide visits, as well as a period of more than five years when he lived in Belgium with his family, where he served as Director of European Engineering, and went about the continent daily on business.He contributed countless hours to community efforts on behalf of civic causes when he was in the USA. Numerous boards and projects went forward under his leadership.
He was recognized by the Equipment Manufacturer’s Association, and is a life member of the Lincoln Chapter PSPE’s middle school “Math Counts” program. He was honored to receive the Increase Case/Cyrus McCormick’s highest award from the American Society of Agricultural Engineering for his professional work. He was inducted as one of the inaugural class of Virginia Tech graduates into the Virginia Tech Biosystems Engineering Department Hall of Fame. While retired in Giles County, he served on the board of the Giles County Historical Society, the Narrows Planning Commission, as a leader in the annual Ramps and Roads and New River Clean-Up projects, so that Giles County could show its most beautiful face. His favorite hobby was planting a garden and planting trees. He was honored to be called a farmer.
He was the husband of Barbara Leist Hale. They were married in the First Presbyterian Church of Narrows in 1955. Survivors, in addition to his wife, include a son, John K. Jr., of Bettendorf, Iowa, wife Gale and grandchildren Amanda, Evan, Eric and Andrea; two daughters, Mary Savarese of Atlanta, Georgia, husband Ronald, and grandsons Joseph and John Anthony, Elizabeth Porter of Atlanta, husband Phil and grandchildren Caroline and B. Hale Porter, another son, James Chapman Hale, Esquire of Roanoke, Virginia, wife Laura and grandson, James Chapman, Jr. and granddaughter Mary-Barbara Hale. His two brothers survive: Chapman M. Hale, Jr. of Kingsport, Tennessee, and Byron H. Hale of Clinton, Tennessee, along with numerous Hale and Hopkins cousins.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, February 20th, 2015 at 12:30 PM at the First United Methodist Church in Narrows with Rev. Jason Stubblefield officiating. The family will receive friends at First United Methodist Church from 11:30 AM until just prior to the service. A private burial will be held at Birchlawn Burial Park in Pearisburg, Virginia, where he will be placed near his extended family. Memorials would be appreciated. They would include cards of condolence and random acts of kindness to others.The family is being served by Riffe’s Funeral Service in Narrows, (540) 726-2442, and online at riffefuneralservice.com.