Mrs Sylvia Ann Hale

Sylvia Ann Hale was known by several names over her long lifetime. She was first named Sylvia Bell Blakeley by her parents Benjamin Blakeley and Mary (Hoskovec) Blakeley shortly after her 7:58 p.m. birth on a hot Phoenix, Arizona Monday evening; the date was July 20, 1925. The night sky would have been dark, as the new moon was blocked by the Earth’s shadow. It was 118° just four days earlier, a record high in Phoenix that stands to this day. Benjamin was 41 at that time, and worked as a laborer at a lumber company. Mary, who was 38 when Sylvia was born, was a busy housewife that had 7 children at home. But Sylvia didn’t like the middle name, so changed it to “Ann� by simply erasing “Bell� from her birth certificate. She ended up erasing a hole in her birth certificate, causing speculation about her middle name that was made clear only last week. The next came when she married Robert Hale (now deceased) on October 4, 1944, becoming Sylvia Ann Hale. She was 19. She next became known as “Mom� when she had her first child, Beverly (Sidebotham) Hale, on May 20, 1945. She again became a mother on November 11, 1949, when her second child, Robert Hale, Jr., was born. She was next known as “Gram� by her grandchildren Kim (Sidebotham) Clark, Eric Sidebotham and Kristen Hale. After that, she was known as “GG,� by her great grandchildren Jason (Sidebotham) Blanchette, Brian (Sidebotham) Blanchette, Alec (Hale) Pletka, Donald (Sidebotham) Clark, Elizabeth Sidebotham, Arianna (Sidebotham) Clark and Madeline Sidebotham. She was also known as Sy and Silver to her countless extended family and friends. And anyone who knew her will tell you that Sylvia lived every day of her life. She was a supportive and wonderful daughter, sister, aunt, wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and great grandmother. She played indoor volleyball with those old school bulky kneepads, and she was good. She loved to bowl. There probably isn’t a bowling alley in Southern California that she didn’t bowl in at some point, whether in a league with her family and friends, or in tournaments, or even on the old TV show “Bowling for Dollars.� But probably most of all, she loved to dance. Through the years, she danced her way from the Jitterbug to the Texas Two Step. She taught all of us something important, as well. For example, she taught us that when some guy in a small sports car steals your front-row parking space at the store, that the right thing to do was get mad, and maybe even give him the bird. And she made us laugh. If you asked how she was feeling, even as her health deteriorated towards the end, she would tell you: “with my hands.� No matter what name you knew her by, there is one thing universally known: that she lived a long and happy life, one that we should all celebrate. Everyone who knew her benefited from her in some way, whether big or small, and she has left her imprint on all of us. Sylvia Ann Hale peacefully passed away in her sleep early in the morning on June 24, 2010 in her home of many years in Long Beach, California. It was about a month before her 85th birthday. The weather in Long Beach was mild compared to the hot Arizona night she was born, and she passed under one of the brightest full moons in recent memory. Sylvia was loved deeply, will be greatly missed, yet her legacy will live on through all of us who knew her.