Haldor C. Wadley

Hal was born in Selden, Kansas, on 4 March 1920, the second son of Joseph Dolphus and Bessie Mae (nèe Martindale) Wadley. With his brother, JD, and sisters, Eileen and Marian, the family soon relocated to Arizona and moved on to Southern California to settle in San Gabriel where Hal attended school and ultimately graduated from Alhambra High School. He was, however, a victim of osteomyelitis beginning at age nine and suffered frequent and prolonged hospitalizations and numerous painful procedures that left his right leg foreshortened and his right hip malformed. In the era before antibiotics he fought hard to survive and did so with his faith, his courage, and with the love of his family.

While recovering at home he would often hobble over to watch the construction of nearby homes and learned carpentry, plumbing and electrical skills as a result. While he considered a career in architecture, he soon recognized his talents lay more in the direction of engineering and, after attending Pasadena City College, he became a civil engineer, working for General Petroleum, Braun, Canon Electric, and then for the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County until his retirement in 1985. Meanwhile he met, pursued, and finally persuaded a beautiful young colleague at Cannon Electric, marrying Francis Rude in 1943. They produced four outstanding children, Tom, who preceded his father in death in 1994; Harlan, a psychiatrist in Eugene, Oregon; Jon, a retired chemical engineer living in Richmond, Virginia; and Tracey, a homemaker in Arcadia.

Hal and Frances parted ways, but Hal found a wonderful and charming second wife, Dorothy Spangle Towner, with whom he blossomed to enjoy motor home travel, winters at Desert Hot Springs, the occasional foray to Lawrence Welk Resort, and travel abroad. Dorothy exposed Hal to an interesting, diverse, and delightful lifestyle, but eventually the effects of childhood disease limited Hal’s outings, with the important exception of church.

Hal’s faith, an expression of strong religious values long held by his parents, clearly sustained and strengthened him during childhood and into the challenges faced as an adult. He did not so much verbalize as much as he lived this faith, in his quiet and unassuming manner. Throughout the changes in his life and of the society around him, he was steady and firm in his beliefs. Most of his life he was a member of the Church of the Nazarene. In his later years he joined the Arcadia Presbyterian Church and at the time of his passing was a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Arcadia. Curiously the Lutheran faith was Frances’ original denomination, and Hal’s son, Tom, became a Lutheran pastor.

Hal loved things mechanical and electrical. He almost single handedly built his own house, still standing on Fourth Avenue in Arcadia, the city in which he lived for the last 65 years of his life. Saturdays were spent working on his cars and he even decided to pursue a career in auto mechanics . . . until the age of computerized technology pre-empted the grease monkeys of former days. Nevertheless he was a constant resource to family and friends who were not quite sure of the difference between a watt and a volt, or how to repair a leaky faucet. He ultimately gave away his tools and settled into computer technology, a suitable alternative for one so gifted with gadgets.

But his real strengths, and the reason he was so loved by so many, was his kind and gentle soul. Hal always had a smile and a supportive word for everyone, was so slow to anger that one could count on one hand the times it was expressed, and he usually had a quick phrase to cool those tempers hotter than his own. He really did make the world around him a softer and just nicer place. If all were like him, strife would scarcely exist and conflict obsolete.

Hal is survived by his beloved wife, Dorothy; his children from his first marriage, Harlan and his wife, Marie; Jack and his wife, LaVonne; and Tracey Funsten and her husband, Clark. He is also survived by his sister, Marian Schoelz; his step children, Nancy Romero and her husband Gilbert, Linda Diaz and her husband, Jorge, and Brian Towner and his wife, Jennifer. He leaves five grandchildren, five step grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.

Services include a viewing at Live Oak Cemetery from 5 to 8 PM on Thursday, 30 January, and a memorial service at Our Savior Lutheran Church on Friday, 31 January at 1 PM, with a reception to follow. A private interment service will be held.