In Memory
H Vail Deale
May 14, 1915 - Feb 28, 2004
H. Vail Deale, 88, of Beloit, WI, died Saturday, February 28, 2004 in Beloit Health & Rehabilitation Center.
He was born on May 14, 1915 in Baltimore, MD, the son of Henry Vail and Sarah Sisson Deale. Vail was educated at Dickinson College and DePauw University, where he received his B.A. in 1936. He also received a B.L.S. from the University of Illinois Library School in 1937, and his M.A. in English Literature from Drake University, in 1950.
Vail married Jane Louise Niehaus on June 7, 1944 in Washington, D.C. She predeceased him on February 2, 2004.
Vail came to Beloit College as the director of libraries in 1953. After years of careful planning, Vail saw through to completion the building of the Colonel Robert H. Morse Library, which opened in 1962 and was named state 'Library of the Year, ' the first time the award went to a college library. Vail's two Fulbright awards led him to Iran, first in 1965-66, where he assisted in building the first academic library in Iran at Pahlavi University in Shiraz and met the Shah. In 1970-71 he served on the faculty at the University of Tehran. Vail wrote numerous articles for Library Journal, Wisconsin Bulletin, College and Research Libraries, and The Journal of Higher Education, among others, and was very active with the Midwest Academic Librarians Conference, served on the council of the American Library Association, and as president of the Wisconsin Library Association. Governor Patrick Lucey, named him to the Wisconsin Council on Library Development in 1973. During his 27 years at Beloit College, approximately 50 students went on to careers in librarianship. In the 1960s, he worked with the Beloit Community on Human Rights, the Beloit Peace Council, and was a member of the Beloit Chapter of the NAACP. He was a charter member of the Leon Peterson Scholarship Committee, was appointed chairman of Brotherhood Week Committee in 1963, and headed the Beloit Citizens Committee for the United Nations in 1964. After retiring in 1980, Vail was on the board of the Voluntary Action Center, served on several minority scholarship committees, and the Community Resources Commission. He was the secretary of the Beloit Public Library Foundation. For many years he continued to maintain an office on campus and met with other retired faculty, known as the 'Buffaloes.'
Survivors include his daughter and her husband; two granddaughters; two great granddaughters; one brother; many nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his parents and one sister, Dorothy Deale Kellison.
Memorial services March 5, 2004 in Eaton Chapel with the Reverend Thomas Wanner officiating. Inurnment in St. Joseph of Arimathea Columbarium. Daley-Murphy-Wisch & Associates Funeral Home, 2355 Cranston Road, Beloit, WI
Home in 1930: South Bend, St Joseph, Indiana
Sources: Ancestry.com and FindAGrave.com
11/06/2026 EJS
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