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Carole Mikita reporting Hundreds of family and friends memorialized Ruth Hale today as the driving force behind a highly-successful group of family-owned theatres. She died Sunday at age 94.
Ruth Hale/ 1985 "SOMEONE ONCE SAID, WHY DO YOU PUT ON SO MANY HALE PLAYS? WE SAID BECAUSE WE OWN THE THEATRE AND NO ONE CAN STOP US...(they laugh."
By the time Ruth and Nathan Hale opened the Hale Centre Theatre in South Salt Lake in 1985, they had already launched 7 others. One includes the longest running center stage theatre in America in Glendale, Ca.
The next theatre came to West Valley in 1998.
Ruth wrote 80 of the plays and she always included the every family member (now hundreds of them) to be a part of them.
Ben Hale/ Ruth Hale's grandson "JUST REMEMBER HOW SHE TRIED TO CORNER MY COUSIN AND I TO WRITE A PLAY ONE DAY (he laughs) AND HOW MUCH FUN WE HAD WITH HER. SHE WAS ALWAYS SO FUN TO BE WITH..."
Ruth Hale was a favorite of casting directors. She performed in countless commercials, television shows, and films. Her grandsons wrote, directed, and produced the popular "Singles Ward" and "The R.M.," but her legacy is the affect her plays had on millions of people.
Judge Pat Brian/ Ruth Hale's son-in-law "HER INFLUENCE, WHO KNOWS HOW FAR AND WIDE IT EXTENDS."
Cody Swenson/ Ruth Hale's grandson " WE WILL REALLY, REALLY MISS HER BUT I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW HAPPY SHE MUST BE RIGHT NOW TO BE WITH GRANDPA AND I IMAGINE THEY'RE ALREADY PLANNING SOME BIG PRODUCTION IN HEAVEN."
To those who knew and loved the lady called Grandma Hale, it is her zest for life they will remember.
Ruth Hale/ age 90/ 1998 "IT'S BEEN A GOOD LIFE AND I'VE OFTEN SAID THAT I'M NEVER AS HAPPY AS WHEN I'M ON STAGE WITH MY FAMILY."
Ruth Hale passed away on Easter Sunday at age 94.
She was buried this afternoon in the Taylorsville Cemetery beside her late husband, Nathan, who died in 1994.
