A husband, father, teacher, mentor and friend, Alexander Stephan Hale departed this earth on April 28, 2022 at the well-oiled age of 83.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 12, 1938, Alex moved to Culver City, California at the age of 1 ½ with his parents Rollin and Ethel Hale and his two older brothers, Bob and George.
From a young age, Alex was always a doer. He bought his first car at 12 years old and worked double shifts at his parent’s restaurants to afford fuel and tires just so he could drive up and down his family driveway. He then made his way to Hollywood, starring as Tubby in the original tv pilot for Little Rascals “Puddle Patch Klub”. While working at a gas station during high school, he tried selling used tires from the station to Fidel Castro! When attending UCLA, he leased out his dorm bed and slept at the park in Beverly Hills to save money. He even rubbed elbows with movie stars from time to time when sneaking into the Academy Awards and attending the after parties.
Alex was always a character and ready to show his fun side when you were least expecting it. Even when you thought he wasn’t listening he would surprise people and loved to make them smile. When you smiled back at him, he always showed a reflection of accomplishment in his eyes.
Alex was the kind of person who always wanted to give the other guy the benefit of the doubt. He would drive into Carmel on the weekends for breakfast, park his Ferrari and leave the keys in the ignition. His reasoning for this was to give humanity a chance to do the right thing. Alex was always thinking of others before himself, and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it, and then help teach you how to get your own.
Alex spent his life lifting people up. While his passion and drive for perfection always kept him focused on what was in front of him; and he never gave up moving forward.
He loved cars, and had quite an eclectic collection over the years, always enjoying the sounds and smells that accompany a real driving machine. Frugal with money, Alex was a deal maker which landed him several unique autos including a 1950 Buick, 1954 Jaguar, 1956 Lancia Aurelia Spider, 1958 Cisitalia, 1954 MG, 1972 Dino Ferrari, 1938 and 1968 Rolls Royce and 1984 Corvette. He enjoyed going to car shows and hearing the “Vahroommmm” of the engines.
Alex came to the Monterey Peninsula when he was drafted in 1961 serving as a Medic at Fort Ord. While stationed at Fort Ord, he fell in love with the Monterey Peninsula and Big Sur. He married Sue Sally Jones and started a family while living in a small cabin behind the Carmelite Monastery at Point Lobos. They had five children; Brook, Stormie, Dawn, Sunny and Trails, who all grew up riding horses and playing polo at Point Lobos, Pebble Beach, Carmel Valley and beyond. His admiration and friendship with his mother-in-law, Susan “Granny” Talmadge, was one of the highlights of his life.
After leaving the Army in 1963, Alex began what would be a long and successful career with Granite Construction Company in Monterey and Salinas. Working tirelessly for over 30 years, he helped grow the company and develop strategies that were years ahead of their time. Alex knew all the back roads, the soil conditions, demographics and watched neighborhoods go through periods of growth, stagnation, decline, and renewal.
In 1976 Alex married the love of his life, Jeanne Sebald. They built a home in Mid Carmel Valley and raised two more boys, Matthew and Patrick, alongside the other five children.
Alex retired in 1993, as the Branch Manager of Granite Construction, in order to spend more time with his children. Whether playing tennis, throwing the ball around or teaching his kids life lessons, Alex was always there for his family. He was the “Team Dad”; cooking breakfasts or dinners for Carmel High football players and never missing a baseball or football game with camera in hand. The “Hale Home” was the place to be and Alex loved having his children’s friends fill the house on weekends.
Alex also left time for his true passion of writing. He finalized a story on his mother-in-law, Granny, and her time in the movie industry called “The Magic Lantern”. He wrote several short stories and scripts including “One Path to Peace” and his most recent fun family screenplay entitled “Snotrockets”; which he was trying to get produced at the time of his passing.
As a 61 year resident of Carmel and Carmel Valley, Alex was always enthused and grateful to be able to live on the central coast, so he filmed and produced “Monterey Memories”; an 80 minute travel video which became the best selling visitor information video and DVD ever produced on the central California coast. The DVD was sold in over 100 Peninsula retail locations and online.
Writing was his passion, and he did it very well throughout his life, but he also had that drive to work. So, he updated his Contractors License and went back to school to earn licenses as a Certified General Appraiser, a California State Inspector, and a Real Estate Salesperson.
Alex contracted with the County of Monterey for several years appraising county properties and in 2016 returned to what he loved almost as much as his writing; working on heavy civil construction projects, contracting his services to Brett George Company who he worked exclusively until March 2022.
His quest for perfection in the estimating and bidding process would keep his mind sharp; and he loved going to his desk every day to figure out how best to build a project.
Always eager to provide us all with his daily life lessons, his words of wisdom from recent internet finds, or his stories of what he thinks we should do, he was always there to remind us to stay safe, and have a good time. In his last few days, Alex told his wife Jeanne that he would “Love her for Eternity” and told his son Patrick that “Grieving is the price we pay for a life of happiness”.
He was never not there, and though now he physically may be absent, the gifts he left in all our hearts will continue to remind us of his presence everywhere we go.
He leaves behind his wife of 46 years, Jeanne, their two sons Matthew and Patrick (Grace and grandchildren Preston and Lucy) and his children Stormie (Mike and granddaughters Elizabeth and Victoria and two great-grandchildren), Dawn (grandson Brandon), and Trails (grandsons Connor and Logan). Son Brook and daughter Sunny preceded Alex in death.
A NEW DAY
This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it or use it for good.
What I do today is very important because
I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes this day will be gone
forever, leaving something in its place.
I have traded for it: I want it to be gain –
not loss; Good – not evil; Success – not
failure, in order that I shall not forget the
price I paid for it.
A thought for each day
Treat others the way you want to be treated
Spend your life lifting people up, not putting people down
Avoid approaching horses and restaurants from the rear
Never be the first to break a family tradition
Accept a breath mint if someone offers you one
Every so often, go where you can hear a wooden screen door slam shut
Never ask a barber if you need a haircut
Don’t trust a women who doesn’t close her eyes when you kiss her
Never order chicken-fried steak in a place that doesn’t have a jukebox
