Lou Moore Hale, beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother – and artist – died unexpectedly, but peacefully, in her sleep on November 8th. Lou was born in Oklahoma City in April 1933, as Mary Lou Moore to her parents, Morris Price Moore and Louise Moore (née Beard), both of whom were journalists. Lou and her younger brother, Ray, grew up in Oklahoma and Texas. The family was living in Brownsville, when Lou's father, the editor of two local newspapers, died in 1949. Lou was a freshman at the University of Texas where she was initiated into the Chi Omega Fraternity and Alpha Lambda Delta. Lou continued her studies at the University of Oklahoma after her mother; Louise joined the faculty of the OU School of Journalism in 1952 (who taught there until 1971). She earned a degree from Cameron University, Lawton, OK in 1973, where she was elected to Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Fraternity, and a Master of Science degree in Education from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, in 1983. Lou was an elementary school teacher in the Lawton Public Schools and later in Norman Public Schools, before moving to Stillwater after marrying Douglas "Doug" Denton Hale, Jr., in 1985. Lou and Doug were members of the First United Methodist Church in Stillwater.

Lou's true lifelong vocation was art, but her work as an artist began in earnest after she retired from teaching school and married Doug. She studiously trained and went on to produce many commissioned busts as a sculptor, including the official state portrait of former Oklahoma Governor, Henry Bellmon. She also painted in oil, acrylic and watercolor.

Lou is the mother of Thomas "Tom" Scott Strickland, III, (husband of Debra née Mullins), Gray Moore Strickland (husband of Shelley née Garner), and Elizabeth Louise "Lisa" Burnett (wife of Trey Burnett), all the children of Lou's first husband, Tom. She is also the step-mother of Charles Steven Hale (husband of Patti née Pheister) and Ellen Douglas Humpert (wife of Trice Humpert), both the children of her second husband, Doug. She is the grandmother of Megan Strickland, Elizabeth "Liz" Maute Strickland, Tyler Strickland, Ross Burnett, Dr. Shelby Humpert, Benton Burnett, Leah Humpert, Gray G. Strickland, Grace Strickland and Graham Strickland – and great-grandmother of Eleanor Burnett. Tom and Doug preceded Lou in death, but all of her children, step-children, grandchildren and Eleanor survive her.

Lou's ashes will be inurned in a niche shared with Doug in the Columbarium of the First United Methodist Church of Stillwater, Oklahoma, and also scattered over the Beard-Moore family plot at Waukomis, Oklahoma, as Doug's ashes were too after his death in 2014.