- Date Of Birth: May 27, 1923
- Date Of Death: May 19, 2020
- State: Idaho
Hallowese “Hailie” Ellena Morrison Tomingas Gunn, 96, passed away May 19, 2020, at MorningStar Senior Living of Idaho Falls.
Hailie was born in Francisco, Indiana, May 27, 1923, to Ethyl Young Morrison and Louis Morrison. Hailie went to the first grade at the Whittier School in Kansas City. Her family then moved to Jackson, Wyoming, when she was seven. There, she sang in a girl’s trio as soprano and played on the women’s basketball team.
Hailie met and married a brilliant man, Bob Tomingas, and had three sons: Robbie, Henry, and Byron. They spent their first years on the Elk Ranch in Moran, Wyoming, then moved into Jackson. Robbie was a musical prodigy who could play Bugler’s Holiday when he was ten.
Hailie was the County Librarian in Jackson for a decade. She was also President of the State Library Association and hosted the tri-state library convention, meeting many significant authors and publishers. She won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award before going back to school to finish a degree in Library Science. When she finished her degree, she had an offer at the San Diego Library and the Elko County, Nevada, library. She moved to Elko and took the Directorship of the second largest county library system in the United States.
She met the love of her life, former Navy SEAL and Jazz Pianist, A.
Hailie and Tom loved going up to Alaska to see her son, Henry, and his fleet of ocean-going research ships which Tom, a former Navy man, enjoyed working on. Tom and Hailie retired to Kalispell, Montana, and didn’t meet old age until 2018. For a last hurrah, they to drive the AlCan Highway one more time as nonagenarians. They arrived at their granddaughter’s Alaska Pony Ranch just in time for Hailie’s 95th birthday. When Hailie’s husband passed away, she moved to Idaho Falls to be near her youngest son, classical guitarist, Byron Tomingas () from Jackson, Wyoming.
She is survived by her two sons; two granddaughters, Persis Anne Tomingas (Byron’s daughter) and Alicia Loren Tomingas (Henry’s daughter); daughters-in-law, Jane Groscost (Persis) and Ruth Hall (Alicia); and god-daughter, Beth Smith.
