OZARK…Mrs. Mary Carol Price Hale, a resident of Ozark, died early Monday afternoon, October 5, 2026, in the Enterprise Health & Rehabilitation Center. She was 77.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. Monday, October 12, 2026, in Southside Baptist Church with Reverend Dr. Tim Bates and Reverend Tommy West officiating. Burial will follow in Chalkhead Baptist Church Cemetery. Fuqua Bankston Funeral Home of Ozark is in charge of arrangements. The family will receive friends from 3:00 until 5:00 P.M. Sunday at the funeral home.
Mrs. Hale, daughter of the late James Lee Price and Mary Edna Powell Price, was a native of Houston County and a 1966 graduate of Wicksburg High School. On December 2, 1967, she married the love of her life, Kenneth Hale, beginning a beautiful journey together that would be centered around faith, family, and service to the Lord.
Throughout their marriage, Mrs. Hale faithfully walked alongside her husband as he answered God’s call to the ministry. They lived in various communities across Alabama where Brother Kenneth served as pastor of several Baptist churches. Through every move, every new congregation, and every season of ministry, she remained faithfully by his side. She understood that being a pastor’s wife was more than simply sitting on the front pew. It was a ministry of its own, and she embraced that calling with a loving heart and a humble spirit. She prayed, encouraged, taught, listened, loved people, and quietly served wherever there was a need.
Mrs. Hale had a deep and abiding faith in her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that faith could be seen in the way she lived her life. She was known as a faithful prayer warrior, someone who truly believed in taking the needs of others before the Lord. Whether praying for her family, her church family, a child she was teaching, or someone walking through a difficult season, prayer was an important part of who she was. Her faith was not something she simply talked about on Sundays. It was something she carried with her every day.
She especially had a heart for children and found great joy in teaching them and showing them the love of Christ. She had a special way of making children feel welcomed, important, and loved. Through the years, she planted many little seeds of faith through the lessons she taught, the kindness she showed, and the example she lived before them. In 1999, Mrs. Hale and her husband returned to Ozark, where she became a member of Southside Baptist Church. Her servant’s heart and love for the Lord continued to be an important part of her life. She never sought attention or recognition for the things she did. She simply wanted to serve her Savior, love people, and be faithful wherever God placed her.
As much as she loved serving the church, there was nothing more precious to Mrs. Hale than her family. She dearly loved her children and held an especially tender place in her heart for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. To them, she was much more than a grandmother. She was their friend and their playmate. She was never too grown-up to get down and play, laugh, have fun, and enjoy whatever adventure her grandchildren had in mind.
Mrs. Hale lived her life with her priorities firmly rooted in the things that mattered most to her: her Lord, her family, and serving others. She faithfully supported the husband she loved, cared deeply for the people God placed in her path, prayed for those around her, and poured her heart into children and family. Hers was a life of quiet faithfulness, one that reminded others that some of the greatest work for the Lord is done without fanfare, simply through loving, praying, teaching, encouraging, and being there when someone needs you.
She was preceded in death by a sister, Patricia Holley; and a brother, Mike Price.
Surviving relatives include her husband of fifty-eight years, Reverend Kenneth W. Hale, Ozark; son, Scott Hale (Stacy), Piney Flats, Tennessee; daughter, Kendra Wester (Chad), Enterprise; sister, Elaine Rittenhouse, Dothan; brother, Tim Price (Julie), Dothan; three grandchildren, Tyler Entelisano (Kristen), Anna-Tyler Wester, and Macy Hale; two great-grandchildren, AJ Scott and Jeremiah Hale Entelisano; nieces and nephews.
Serving as active pallbearers will be Dennis Hale, Tyler Entelisano, Bill Vang, Mike Moore, Jonathan Dykes, and Steve McDaniel.
You may sign a guest register at www.fuquabankston.com
