Len Hale has been a part of our community for decades. He served as the general manager of the Hopkinsville Sewerage and Water Department (now Hopkinsville Water Environment Authority) from 1994 to 2014. Around the time of his retirement from that position, Hale began a ministry as a volunteer chaplain to the male inmates at the Christian County Jail. In recent years, he has become dedicated to helping his neighbors keep their lawns mowed and providing landscaping in the common areas of his neighborhood.
While we may think that these post-retirement ventures reflect new interests in Hale’s life, I learned that all of these activities have been near and dear to his heart for most of his life. In this season of Easter, his story provides us all with the inspiration to prepare to experience the meaning of Easter.
Hale grew up on a farm in northern Christian County in the Bainbridge area, where he became proficient in raising tobacco and corn, and tending to cattle and hogs. When his father was paralyzed at age 24 from a farming accident, his family moved to the grandparents’ farm. This is where Hale acquired his skill and interest in growing things and preserving the environment.
He received a degree in environmental engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1975, where he focused on waste water treatment. He had planned to further his education and actually received a fellowship offer but decided that he needed to seek employment since he was getting married.
Hale worked at Peabody Coal Co. for a short time and then became a design engineer in 1977 for Howard K. Bell in Hopkinsville. In 1994, he applied for the position of general manager of the Water Authority Department that came open when McKenzie Moss became ill. The job was offered to him out of 30 applicants.
He described the installation of the water line from Lake Barkley to Hopkinsville as one of his “most important projects” and also one of his “most controversial decisions.” Hale also expanded the utility to become a regional service agency.
Hale had no specific plans upon retirement in 2014 but always had been involved in church. He has taught Sunday school for more than 40 years, first at Bainbridge Baptist Church, then at First Baptist Church and now at First Christian Church in Hopkinsville. At FCC, he also leads a Bible study during the church’s Wednesday night gatherings.
His spiritual journey has led him to volunteer at the jail where he has a Bible study twice each month and receives prayer requests from the participants which are taken to FCC for the Sunday school classes to pray for them.
Hale said, “I always leave encouraged” by encounters with the inmates.
His study of the Bible has taught him that life is better if you have an open mind because “life is complicated and difficult and it’s hard to know how to maneuver through life.”
He has learned a lot about understanding and compassion from his interactions because he feels that he has “walked in their shoes.”
For guidance, Hale relies upon Matthew Chapter 25 where Jesus responded to his followers’ inquiry about when did we see you sick or in prison and visited you and He said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”
Hale mentioned another Bible passage important to him which instructs us to love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.
Hale further demonstrates his caring and compassion for people (and his love for the environment) by helping his neighbors with yard maintenance and landscaping. He lives in the Anvirdale Historic District in Hopkinsville which is one of only two such designations in the city—the other being Mt. Pleasant Historic Neighborhood. He is a member of the Hopkinsville Historic Preservation Commission.
One of his neighborhood friends, Karen Shields, spoke highly of all of Hale’s efforts to assist those in need and to keep the area in excellent shape. Not only does he mow lawns of his neighbors but he also has shopped at the grocery store for those in need. When a family of a deceased neighbor needed assistance in preparing the estate assets for sale, Hale took charge and cleaned out the house afterwards.
Hale picks up trash on his daily walks and takes care of planting and maintaining the island going into the neighborhood off South Main Street. Shields said that Hale “exemplifies what being a Christian means.”
At the end of my conversation with Hale, I learned that he and I had a connection that I was not aware of. I have been practicing law at 700 S. Main St. in Hopkinsville since 1987. He explained to me that he had designed the exterior of the law office building around that time. Lee White and his mother Betsy wanted the building to look like it originally was constructed, and Hale found old photographs of the building to accomplish that goal.
Hale continues to combine his talents and passions to promote a clean and tidy environment and to nurture the physical and spiritual well-being of the entire community.
Julia Crenshaw is an attorney at White, White & Crenshaw in Hopkinsville. She lives on a farm in Todd County with her husband John. They have two adult children.
