Quincy H. Hale, well known La Crosse lawyer and civic leader, was born on March 24, 1893, in Spring Valley, Minnesota to Samuel and Helen Hale. In 1918 he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a law degree. He joined the Army Air Service that same year and was sent to training school in Austin, Texas, learning aviation and balloon observation. The War ended before his training was complete, so he took a job with the law firm of Hartwell & Cowie in La Crosse in 1919. In 1925 he was diagnosed as having tuberculosis and went through a year of recovery at a sanatorium in Stevens Point. Shortly after his recovery he became a trustee for Oak Forrest Sanatorium in La Crosse, and thus began Mr. Hale’s long record of community service in La Crosse.
He was on the City Plan Commission for 18 years, was a trustee of the La Crosse Public Library for 27 years, being named Library Trustee of the Year by the Wisconsin Library Association in 1966. In 1929 Hale was elected president of the La Crosse County Bar Association and in 1945 he became the first La Crosse lawyer to become president of the Wisconsin Bar Association. He was vice chairman of the Pettibone Park Commission and was involved in the planning of the La Crosse Municipal Airport and the Mary E. Sawyer Auditorium. Hale was also on the G. Heileman Brewing Co. Board of directors for 48 years and served on the board of directors for First Federal Savings and Loan as well.
Quincy Hale was married to Helen Wilson in 1923. They had three daughters; Jane, Molly, and Helen. Mrs. Hale died on March 3, 1976. Quincy Hale died February 28, 1987.
