George Hale, 86, garden businessman

One day George Hale was asked to give an inspirational talk to third-graders at Midway Elementary School.

The retiree thrilled the Forsyth County students with tales about growing up in Central Florida during the 1920s. Back then, he’d tell the students, cars were luxuries. Folks got around on foot, and by horse and buggy.

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George Hale, who retired as superintendent in charge of aircraft overhaul for Eastern Airlines, inspired children with his stories.

“Of course,” said his son, Mike Hale of Woodstock, “they probably thought he was from another planet with that story.”

Mr. Hale had a stockpile of stories that could hold the students’ attention.

Like the one about the bicycle he made. When you rode the bike, it moved up and down like you were riding a horse. He even mounted a horse’s head on the handlebars.

Or, he could tell them how he came home one day in 1952 and told his wife he’d like to open a garden-supply store.

“We dug up $300 and started the business,” said Ruby Hale, his wife of nearly 60 years. “He worked at the airlines at the time and told a lot of people what he was doing. A lot of them came and bought from us.”

George Hammel Hale, 86, of Cumming died Thursday at Northside Forsyth Hospital. The funeral is at 11 a.m. Monday at Midway United Methodist Church in Forsyth County. McDonald & Son Funeral Home & Crematory is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Hale was a retired superintendent of aircraft overhaul for Eastern Airlines. The garden-supply business he founded in Hialeah, Fla., expanded to include lawn-mower repair and the sale of Schwinn bicycles. A top seller at Hialeah Cycle and Garden Center was the Schwinn Stingray, with its chopper handlebars and banana seat. It went for about $60, his wife said.

“It was the 1970s and bicycles were going like crazy,” Mrs. Hale of Cumming said. “Of course, we went with one of the best brands.”

The good thing about having a dad in the bicycle business was the access it granted to the hottest models and styles, said Mike Hale. He recalls participating with friends in the Junior Orange Bowl Parade in Coral Cables, Fla. Instead of riding bicycles in the parade route, sometimes they rode unicycles. “Every kid in our neighborhood knew how to ride one,” he said.

Last year, Mr. Hale starting mentoring students at Midway Elementary School in Cumming. He got involved through his church — Midway United Methodist, which is across the street from the school.

“The kids loved him because he was a nice, kind person,” Mrs. Hale said.

Additional survivors include a daughter, Janet Reich of Cumming; a sister, Sue Messer of Ocala, Fla.; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.