Obit

This month marks a year since my father passed away. For posterity, here is his obituary.

Hal Winchester Canary
July 12, 1943 – April 25, 2018

Hal Winchester Canary, 73, of Raleigh, North Carolina, and originally from Memphis, Tennessee, died on April 25 at 4:55 p.m.

Hal grew up in Memphis and attended Central High School, where he met his future wife, Kathy Carroll. He finished high school at Columbia Military Academy in 1961, and received both a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Business Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1966 and 1970. He then became a Certified Public Accountant.

Hal married Kathy in 1965.

Hal served in the United States Army from 1965 to 1969, in the XVIII Airborne Corps, 12th Support Brigade, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as a First Lieutenant, Quartermaster Corps. He received the Army Commendation Medal.

After business school, Hal worked as an accountant at Ernst & Young and Haines & Jackson, in Memphis. Hal served as the Finance Director of the City of Germantown, Tennessee, from from 1979 to 1990. He received the Government Finance Officers Association's Award For Excellence in Municipal Debt Management. After leaving Germantown, Hal founded Canary Consulting to provide financial advice to businesses and governments. From 1993 to 1994, Hal served as Finance Director at the Virginia Beach City Public Schools. In 1996 he joined Public Financial Management, where he retired as a Managing Director in 2009.

Hal and his wife Kathy moved from Memphis to Fort Myers, Florida, in 2000. Hal enjoyed sailing and golfing in his retirement. In 2015, Hal and Kathy moved to Raleigh to be closer to their grandchildren.

Hal was the Treasurer and a member of the Vestry at Grace-St. Luke's Church in Memphis. He was active as adult leader in the Boy Scouts of America. He was a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Society of CPAs, the Florida Institute of CPAs, the Government Finance Officers Association, the Tennessee GFOA, and the Florida GFOA.

Hal is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Kathy Carroll Canary, his sister Lucy Canary Church of Charlottesville, Virginia, his son Hal W. Canary, III, of Durham, North Carolina, and two grandchildren, Margaret and Thaddeus Canary.

A memorial service was held on May 1, at the Springmoor Retirement Community auditorium, in Raleigh. Hal's ashes were interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 13.

One may make a donation in Hal’s memory to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (lls.org).