ABBY HALE

ABBY HALE - BURLINGTON - Abby Hale of Burlington, Vt., and Westport, N.Y., died of Alzheimer's disease on April 30, 2013, in Middlebury. She was born on Aug. 10, 1952, in Alexandria, Va., the daughter of the late Matthew and Frances Hale of Alexandria, Va., and Westport, N.Y. She graduated from the University of Vermont, and received a physician assistant degree from the University of California at Davis. She was a licensed physician assistant in Vermont, practicing there for almost 30 years, including most recently for many years at the Community Health Center in Burlington. While at the Community Health Center, she worked for the Homeless Health Project as the medical director of Safe Harbor Clinic. She began her career in health care at the Vermont Women's Health Center in Burlington, and also worked at the Georgia Health Center in Georgia, Vt. She was a member of the national Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians' Network, and she was on that organization's steering committee. She was a longtime advocate for women and for homeless people. She is survived by her children, Silas Pierpont-Hale and Shilpa Pierpont-Hale of Burlington; sisters and brother and their families, Sarah Ashworth and Elaine Charpentier of Bolton, Elizabeth Hale of Washington, D.C., Margaret and Jon Sheeser of Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, Matthew Hale of Alexandria, Va., and Anne Hale and Charles Schafer of Westport, N.Y.; nieces and nephews and their families, Trilby Sheeser, Michael Sheeser and Jessica Nordhaus, Thomas Ashworth and Kathryn Tilton, Sarah Ashworth and Polk Deters, Robert Ashworth, and Matthew Schafer; her former partner, Kelly Pierpont; and an amazing network of friends. The family will have a funeral service for Abby at 2 p.m. on June 1, 2013, at the First Unitarian Universalist Society Meeting House, 152 Pearl St., Burlington. Instead of flowers, the family suggests gifts to Safe Harbor, 184 South Winooski Avenue, Burlington, VT 05401, for health care for the homeless of Burlington.