Hale Livingston Montgomery

One of Washington D.C.’s finest national wire service reporters of the 1950’s and ‘60’s, Hale Livingston Montgomery, passed away peacefully at the age of 98 in Arlington, VA. Surrounded by family and friends and superb care aides, Hale died in his own bed on his own terms on Sunday afternoon, March 30th at The Jefferson Residence. Raised in New York City and Jefferson City Missouri, Hale came to the D.C. area in 1959 from Topeka, Kansas with his wife, Carol Idol Montgomery, and baby daughter Anne Heath. In 1963, Patricia Hale was born, and in 1966, the Montgomerys moved to 4208 23rd Street North, where the family settled, until Hale moved for a final time in 2023.

A World War II vet, Hale was born in Missouri on Dec. 28th, 1926 to Helen Clark and Hale Livingston Montgomery Sr., joining his older brother William Clark and living in the Queens Borough of New York City, where his Dad was a founding member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a bond salesman. But the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression meant that the young family struggled to make ends meet. A decision was made that the two boys and their mother would return to Jefferson City, Missouri, Helen Clark Montgomery’s childhood home. Hale Sr. remained in New York City. Although the boys visited New York during the summers, the family never reunited.

Hale therefore grew up in the capital of Missouri, where his grandfather, Dr. William Clark, was personal physician to the Governor and a renowned country doctor. Hale loved to reminisce about the controversial mural painted in 1936 for a project in the Missouri State Capitol building. The artist, Thomas Hart Benton, depicted the marvels of the state’s social history – including the roles played by slavery, mob violence and the Klan, which dismayed some in the state legislature. Montgomery remembers sneaking out of school to watch Benton paint and reeling his lunch bucket up to the scaffold.

In high school, Hale accompanied his mother, who was ailing, to Tucson, Arizona. The brothers scattered when World War II hit, and brother Bill was sent overseas to serve on the front in France. Hale served as an Army Air Corps private, spending time in Labrador and Newfoundland. At the war’s end, Hale gravitated back to Missouri and finished college on the Montgomery GI Bill, holding various jobs in his 20’s as he tried to figure out what he would most enjoy.

Then he applied for a newspaper job, where it was assumed he knew how to type; he didn’t, but taught himself over the course of a weekend and became a lightening fast two-finger typist. Montgomery worked as a stringer and later a staffer for the Kansas City Star as a general assignment reporter. His ledes could be memorable:

“Quietly they lifted a thirsty prayer to the cloudless Kansas sky: ‘God, grant us rain.’

“This was the desperate prayer of farmers in dusty overalls, silent children, solemn housewives, and grim businessmen gathered the other day in the courthouse square of nearby Holton." All stores and shops were closed for the noon-hour public devotion.

“The temperature was 90 in the shade of a courthouse oak, the sun blazed relentlessly and the weather man predicted no rain.”

Eventually United Press (later United Press International) hired him full-time. Transferred to New Orleans and covering the state legislature in Baton Rouge, Hale met a fellow reporter, Carol Sue Idol, over “a hot teletype machine.” In time they fell deeply in love, and Hale penned many a love letter, including one declaring that Carol made him feel as though he had “swallowed a sunset.” Later Hale was reassigned to Topeka, Kansas, taking the position of bureau chief. Carol, still in New Orleans, eventually agreed to join him there, and they married in 1956.

By 1958, Hale had landed a plum assignment of covering the U.S. Congress and the White House for UPI’s national bureau. He worked alongside the renowned Helen Thomas of Associated Press and David S. Broder at the Washington Star and the Washington Post. In 1965, Montgomery decided to leave journalism for greater economic stability, joining the first telecommunications company in the U.S., Communications Satellite Corporation. Enthralled by telecommunications technology, Hale wrote multiple freelance articles about satellite launchings and other developments as the field exploded.

By the mid-1980’s, Montgomery founded his own company, Capstone Communications, where he wrote and published a well-regarded industry newsletter, Mobile Satellite Reports. Due to his expert writing and previous connections it was an instantaneous success. Five years later he sold it for a nice sum, and continued working for various GPS (global positioning system) and satellite communications magazines.

Beyond his professional life, Hale was a devoted father to his two girls and supported Carol through 25 difficult years of living with multiple sclerosis; she died in 2003. He was immensely proud of his 29 azalea bushes and the beauty of his backyard and home. He was a ferocious competitor at board games and an excellent tennis player, often playing in mixed doubles leagues, and taught both his girls how to play. (To this day his daughters have devastating forehands but not much of a backhand.) Hale loved to talk policy and politics, and respected those who strive to participate in society and try to make it better. Late in life, in an oral history – https://vimeo.com/107888696 – Hale summed up his philosophy of life in the word “fairness.”

Throughout his life, Hale was highly motivated to continually improve his skills, knowledge and expertise. He loved pranks and cracking jokes and was often the life of neighborhood parties. With a wink and a wry retort or a clever remark, Hale could tell a story like no one else and always made the room laugh. A handsome, blue-eyed, fit man with wavy brown hair and a ginger mustache, he was charismatic and a good story. He was always up for an adventure, including road trips, camping, rafting, and traveling the world over. He was warm and inquisitive, talking up anyone nearby, whether a garbage collector, chairman of a committee, priest or socialite.

Montgomery volunteered with Arlington County and Habitat for Humanity, and contributed generously to many good causes, including the educations of his grandchildren, Daniel Clark Fernald and Margaret Helen Korab. He spent 14 enjoyable years with Ruth “Nicki” Shearer (also of the Jefferson Residence), living with gusto and humor to the end. He died as he wished -- at home, listening to music and to those around him.

In lieu of flowers, please feel free to donate to Habitat for Humanity, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or the American Cancer Society in his name.

A service will be held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 4250 N Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA 22207 on Friday, May 9, 2025 starting at 5 p.m.

On Saturday, May 10, a Celebration of Life for Montgomery will take place at the National Press Club, 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20045 from 1-5 p.m. in the Fourth Estate Room. The Club is located on the 13th floor of the National Press Building.