Over the years I have found some incredibly talented and well educated people in Star Valley.

You know, the kind that you find it an honor just to call them friend and  neighbor.

Jack Hales and his wife Susan are among them.  They have made Star Valley Ranch home for the past few years.

Jack is a retired meteorologist, having worked for the National Weather Service in places like Oklahoma, Washington State and Utah, among other assignments.

He took the “heavy lift” assignments because he was good at the task of calling the weather and helping us define an event.

This was the case when he retired in Star Valley at “The Ranch.”

Jack’s “basement office,” which I visited on occasion was set up with computers and equipment  all designed around monitoring and explaining the weather in a professional manner.

At SVI Media, we tapped into his talents on many occasions.

When an unusual mountain storm would come through in any season, in our office we would say, “Call Jack, let’s get his take on it.”

The winter of 2022-2023 it never stopped snowing — “Call Jack, he’ll help us make sense of this.”

We lost all of that institutional knowledge recently as Jack passed away after a long battle with Cancer. (See his obituary in the May 29, 2024 SVI and at svinews.com.)

I’ll miss this man and his talents, but will remember his great knowledge and help with the weather at SVI.

I’m honored to have known and worked with Jack Hales, a friend and valley neighbor.