Obituary: Hall Baetz

August 26, 1941 – February 9, 2019

Posted

Hall Baetz, long time resident of Seattle and Port Townsend, died February 9, 2019 as a result of a brain hemorrhage. He was 77. Hall was born in Salt Lake City and moved to Seattle with his family in 1953. He graduated from Garfield High School in 1959. He then went on to the University of Washington for his undergraduate and law degrees completing his law degree in 1967.

Hall married Dorothy O’Meara in August of 1966. After law school, Hall and Dorothy moved to Washington, DC where Hall practiced at the Justice Department for two years. Their two sons, Hall Jr. and Brant were born in Washington, DC. Upon returning to Seattle in the Fall of 1969, Hall began a 40 year career practicing law at Davis Wright Tremaine. Kate, their third child was born in 1974.

In 2008, Hall left Davis Wright to start his own practice with two former Partners -- Bruce Lamka and Al Clark -- forming Baetz/Lamka/Clark. Not long after returning to Seattle, Hall and Dorothy, along with their two sons, began building their own home in Port Townsend where they spent many summers along with friends and family.

Hall was a man with many interests--his running group (The Torrs as they called themselves) was a big part of his life for all of these years; he also took up cycling and attended several Senior World Biking events in St. George, Utah; he loved movies (his parents owned the Ballard Theatre where he worked while in high school); he was a gifted painter, using pastels as his medium and carved one totem pole and has left one totem pole unfinished. Hall was working on finding a safe route for the missing link of the Olympic Discovery Trail over Eaglemount at the time of his death.

Hall is survived by his wife, Dorothy; his sons-Hall Jr. and Brant; his daughter Kate Mercier and her husband, Brett; grandchildren Isobel and Olivia Baetz, and Sophie and Caleb Mercier; his sister Mary Jane Baetz and an extended family of nieces nephews, in-laws friends and colleagues.

A memorial gathering will be on Wednesday, March 27, 2019 from 2-4 p.m. at the Mountaineers Club in Seattle (7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle 998115).