Hal, 84, died Jan. 22, 2012, in Grass Valley, California. He served in the Navy during World War II before earning a bachelor's degree in Forest Management from Utah State Agricultural College, now Utah State University. It launched a 33-year career with the U.S. Forest Service, and his transfer to Grass Valley in 1978 would be his last as he retired there. Hal jumped at Missoula in 1951.