Tributes

David Hail II was born January 6, 1947, in Charleston, West Virginia, to Rev. David and Irene “Tilly” Hail. He died peacefully at his home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on Sunday, June 28, 2026. He was larger than life, and he worked at it. The job titles changed across the years. Minister of music. Music producer. Advertising man. Creative director. Nonprofit fundraiser. Ministry support. Author. Publisher. The companies he started had names like Unified Services that explained nothing, and the stories around him only grew. Growing up, his son’s friends were half-convinced he was in organized crime. He never fully corrected the record. He told tall tales rooted in just enough truth that you could never sort the fact from the legend. He wore a custom gold initial ring and told people the DH stood for Designated Hitter. He lived by maxims, chief among them “good enough isn’t.” He could read a room, and more than that, he knew exactly when to speak. His creative vision led him to improve nearly everything he touched, whether you asked him to or not. His opinion was usually right, which was its own kind of problem. His faith was a working trade, not a Sunday position. He wrote direct mail that raised money for ministries. He helped pastors and evangelists publish their books. He could write a sermon at a moment’s notice, and he could quote scripture for any occasion. He was hard on the idea of a handout. He also paid for the groceries of strangers he watched struggle in a checkout line, and told no one. He served in the United States Air Force and played trombone in the marching band. It was the first chapter of a life lived in music. He attended Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville, where he majored in music. He served as minister of music at Ashland First Church of the Nazarene in Kentucky, and there he met Marilyn “Janie” Boggs. They were married January 21, 1972, in Ashland, and shared 54 years together. His ventures rarely followed a logic anyone else could trace. He produced a seven-man vocal group called Seven, modeled on the great tenor ensembles, and recorded a double album of patriotic songs and hymns. He once owned an ice cream stand in West Virginia called Chuck and Dave’s Dairy Barn. There were dozens more. His life carried him through Huntington, Council Bluffs, Nashville, Ashland, Dayton, Oklahoma City, and Baton Rouge, before he settled for nearly 45 years in Tulsa and Broken Arrow. For all the bigness, what he loved was small and deep. He could command a crowd. What he wanted was the same few people at the same table. He spoke with his brother Chuck and his sister Edie nearly every day. He spoke with his grandchildren nearly every day. Thanksgiving and Christmas at the house in Broken Arrow were the high points of his year. The crowd was never the point. He is survived by his wife, Janie; his daughter Heather and son-in-law Brian of Land O’ Lakes, Florida; his son David and daughter-in-law Ann-Shannon of Norman, Oklahoma; his granddaughter Ainsley, grandson Henry, and granddaughter Charlotte; his brother Chuck Hail and wife Brenda of Dayton, Ohio; his sister Edith Bissett of Dayton, Ohio; and his nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents. When the family sat down to plan the music for his service, they agreed on one thing. The only person he would have wanted singing was himself.

Tributes

David Hail

January 6, 1947 - June 28, 2026