Neva M. Hale

Neva M. Hale
February 27, 2011

Mrs. Neva M. Hale, 87, succumbed to a long-term illness on Sunday February 27, 2011. As she faced her final health challenge, she was in the exceptional care of the staff and volunteers at Francis House in Syracuse. The environment of Francis House brought comfort to Neva and allowed family members to spend many hours with her in pleasant surroundings.

She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Lyman L. Hale, Jr., son Lyman L. Hale, III (Terry), and daughters Melleny Hale of Syracuse and Martha Hale of Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, she leaves behind two grandchildren, Lance and Timothy, the adult sons of Terry and Pat Hale of Gansevoort, NY.

Neva was born in Columbus, a small hamlet near New Berlin, NY, to Elwell and Vera Mowry. She graduated from New Berlin Central School in 1941. A cousin, Foster Williams, is credited with encouragement and a financial strategy leading to her matriculation at Syracuse University. Four years later, she graduated with a degree in home economics, training that included student teaching in Mannsville, NY. She was hired to teach at a school in Minoa, NY, where she taught home economics for two years, before acting on a desire to enter the field of nursing. That change was motivated by the decision she and Lyman had made to become medical missionaries under the sponsorship of the Methodist Church. She was accepted at Yale University, where she studied while Lyman served overseas, first as an army surgeon in Korea, then as a flight surgeon in Japan. In 1949, she graduated from Yale with a Master's degree in Nursing.

Reunited, Neva and Lyman started their family with the births of Terry, Melleny, and Martha. Before committing to missionary life, they spent two years in Sitka, Alaska where Lyman served as a thoracic surgeon treating tuberculosis patients at Mt. Edgecombe Hospital. Then they returned to prepare for missionary work at Scarritt College, TN, followed by six months studying Korean at Yale School of Far Eastern Languages.

Once in Korea, Neva served in many capacities, including establishing and managing a Foreigner's Diet Kitchen at Severance Hospital in Seoul, teaching nursing, and sharing management responsibilities for three inter-denominational shelter homes. The House of Grace, House of Hope, and House of Faith provided shelter, care, career training, and job placement for young women rescued from prostitution. She arranged for and personally financed the translation and publication of a nursing book into Korean. For a number of years she assisted the president of the World Federation of Methodist Women, Ok Nah Kim Lah, facilitating her communications in English, most notably with that NGO's representation at the United Nations. Leading up to retirement, Neva was an editor of the Yonsei University Medical Journal for several years.
She and Lyman retired in 1986 and resettled in Syracuse. Even after retirement, Neva remained actively in the service of others, frequently providing medical information to retired missionaries and others with medical ailments.