Jeremy Hales

1937 - 2020

JEREMY HALES Jeremy (Jake) Hales died 15 March, 2020, bringing to an end 82 years of big thoughts and bad jokes, good dogs and godawful adventures, quality friendships and questionable inventions. In doing so, he outlived his self-proclaimed 'design life' by 12 years. Jake was born in Lake City, WA in 1937, growing up as the country recovered from depression and war, guided by a superhero big brother who taught him self-dependence and calculated risk, and a savant mother who taught him intellectualism and altruism. Admitted to the University of Washington as a probationary freshman in 1954, he achieved degrees (BS, MS, UW; PhD, University of Michigan) in chemical engineering, and was able to help his kids with 'homework' through their graduate studies. He joined Battelle in 1968, and eventually led its flying mass-spectrometry laboratory before leaving in 1990 to ultimately form Columbia Geosciences. He never really retired, and to his last days was re-examining the laws of thermodynamics and developing a chemiluminescent SO2 sensor in his home lab. Jake met Katie (Kathryn L. Eaden) at a Laurelhurst lakefront summer party in 1959 while she was home from her freshman year at Stanford University. Married in 1961, their life took them through stints in the Public Health Service in Cincinnati and his graduate studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor until returning to their beloved Pacific Northwest in 1968. They were soulmates who propped each other up through life until her death in 2008. They had two children, Burke and Sarah, and four grandchildren, Eleanor, Henry, Amelia, and Joshua. Jake married Christine Ziegler in 2010 after attending her dance class. They lived their best lives to his end, traveling, scuba diving, dancing, and attending ballet and stage productions. Jake and Christine had returned from a trip to the Everglades and Corkscrew Swamp in Florida the day he fell ill. He was active in directing the Katie Hales Memorial Endowment to the Pasco Education Foundation, supporting women who were first-in-family to attend college, and, with Christine, supporting Ellensburg's Jazz in the Valley Festival. Jake is preceded in death by Katie, his wife of 47 years; older brothers Burke and Linc; and is survived by his wife Christine; sister Andrea; daughter and son in law Sarah and Kevin and son and daughter in law Burke and Kelly; grandchildren Eleanor, Henry, Amelia and Josh; great-grandson Delbert; Christine's son and daughter in law Steve and Dina and daughter and son in law Julie and Mitch; and many nieces and nephews. Jake's friends and family will gather on a bluebird day in early summer for a fire and a fish and a river sunset. In the meantime, raise a glass, feel awe in the earth and wonder at human decency. In lieu of flowers, consider a donation to the Katie Hales Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Washington or the Katie Hales Memorial Endowment at PascoPride.org, or UW's Virology Laboratory.