Ruvil Hale

Ruvil Hale of Pilgrim will finally be laid to rest Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023.

A family tragedy that began over three decades ago has finally received closure.

On July 3, 1990, Ruvil Hale disappeared from the Paintsville Health Care Center, a nursing home in Johnson County.

Ruvil had been a coal miner for Peter Cave Coal Company until an injury rendered him unable to work. He suffered from a stroke and seizures and was being treated for a brain aneurysm at the time of his disappearance. On the same day Ruvil disappeared, a Ford Tempo was reported missing from the parking lot of Druthers Restaurant beside the nursing home.

Ruvil was legally declared dead in 1996.

On March 18, 2022, the vehicle was discovered submerged in the water at Dewey Lake in Floyd County. Remains found in the car were sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort. Just eight days before what would have been Ruvil’s 76th birthday, the medical examiner concluded that the remains found were that of our beloved Ruvil.

Born Jan. 27, 1947, in Martin County, he was the son of the late Ernest and Florence Hale. In addition to his parents, he had three siblings who have since passed away: Sherman Hale, Connie Hale and Mary Hale.

Ruvil is survived by his wife, Catheline Hale of Killen, Ala.; two sons, Max Hale and wife Mandy of Pilgrim and Keith Hale and wife Melissa of Glasgow; four grandchildren, Ryan Hale, Rena Hale, Kaylyn Hale and Khloe Hale, and one great-granddaughter,  Mattilyn Hammonds. He is also survived by his siblings, Ernest (Marcie) Hale Jr., Eddie (Lory) Hale, Edith (Bob) Collins, Betty Hale, Janice (Tom) Hayes, Elva (Steve) Smith and Linda Muncy, and a host of nieces and nephews.

There will be a graveside service at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, at the Hale Family Cemetery in Pilgrim, with Terry Harmon officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of the Callaham Funeral Home, Inez.