ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 11, 1996 TAG: 9612110016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEARISBURG
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
Three days ago, as Faith Temple Pentecostal Church's Sunday morning service was wrapping up, the minister called upon Mitch Hale to end things with a prayer.
That Hale was called was not unusual, asking a member of the congregation to close with a prayer is Pentecostal tradition.
But Hale's prayer in the Pearisburg church was longer than most and, rather than the general goodwill theme of most service-ending prayers, Hale's was personal; he asked God to watch over his family.
On the drive home to Newport, with his wife, Monica, in the passenger seat and daughter, Heather, in back, Hale, 37, suffered a heart attack at the wheel of the family's Ford Taurus.
He was pronounced dead at Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital that afternoon.
Hale was a technician at Sleep Disorders Center of Southwest Virginia, near the Marketplace shopping center in Christiansburg. He didn't have life insurance.
"I'm not sure why he didn't," said his friend Terry Altizer. "I know price is a consideration for a lot of folks. And he was 37. Folks don't always realize you can go at any time."
Now family and friends are asking the community to help look after the family; Monica, 35, Heather, 10, and son Aaron, 13. Friends have set up the Mitch Hale Family Fund at The National Bank of Blacksburg.
"He was just your average guy who did a lot of extraordinary things," Altizer said of Hale, a former Giles County teacher and track and football coach.
"I don't want this to be a telethon," he said. "But there's an awful lot of folks out there who might be looking to help someone out at this time of year. Good people, when they have hard times, need to be helped."
Donations can be made at any National Bank of Blacksburg branch, or sent to The National Bank of Blacksburg, P.O. Box 90002, Blacksburg, Va. 24062-9002.
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB