Norman "Nick" Noel Hallett

Norman Noel (Nick) Hallett passed away Saturday, March 2 at home from cancer. He was 78 years old. Nick was born in McCloud, CA but spent his elementary years in Council, ID after the death of his father. His mother married his father's brother and they moved to Boise, ID in 1953. He graduated from Boise High School in 1958. He played the clarinet in high school and met his future wife Marcia, in the high school band. They married in 1959 and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on February 20, 2019. Daughter, Lauri, was born in 1960 and son, Jae, in 1962, Nick graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in elementary education in 1962. He taught for one year in Redmond, WA and then decided to work on his Master’s Degree in administration. He and Marcia and their two children returned to Boise, TD and Nick spent his summers going to Seattle to take graduate level classes. Both taught in Boise for three years while Marcia completed her bachelor's degree in elementary education at the newly accredited Boise State College. They then moved to Oregon where Nick completed his Master’s Degree in administration at the University of Oregon while Marcia taught. Upon completion, Nick took a

principal's job in Dufur, Or. The second year there, he became the superintendent as well. He was a middle school principal for three years in the Dalles, OR.  During that time, he also served as editor of the Oregon Elementary Principal Journal. In 1975 he moved to Bonners Ferry, ID where he took a job as superintendent. Six years later, Nick and Marcia moved to Moscow, ID and started working on their doctorates. That year all four family members were in college, the  kids at BSU and Nick and Marcia at the U of I.

In 1982 Nick and Marcia moved to Boise after Nick got his doctorate in school finance and he  went to work for the Meridian School District (now known as West Ada) as director of elementary education. Three years later he was hired as the Superintendent of Schools in Meridian. In 1992 he became the Chair of the University of Idaho's Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education. After four years, he took a job as Superintendent of Schools in Minidoka School District and remained there until he retired. He served on the Idaho Endowment Fund Idaho Investment Board from 1996-2003. Upon retirement he helped establish the ART EC Professional/ Technical Chatter School and served as principal for 3 years, retired and worked part time as a Capacity Builder for the State Department of Education working with low achieving schools until 2015 when he finally retired. Nick received various awards throughout ins employment in schools.

Nick had many interests and activities over the years. He was an avid hunter, both bird and big game. On Senior Sneak Day he took Marcia out rattle snake hunting. He spent many weekends hunting with Marcia's dad, her brother-in-law, and his son, Jae. In Boise, Marcia bought him a and wanted to give the birds a chance. Marcia, Nick, Lauri and Jae spent a lot of time in the summer and fall fishing for crappie, bass, and perch in Bonners Ferry, ID. He raised 100 head of sheep and was President of the Boundary County Woolgrowers Assoc. He bought muzzle loader rifle kits and built rifles for him and Jae to go big game hunting. While living in Dufur, OR, he and the family spent time backpacking and horseback riding. He also started mountain climbing and climbed a number of Oregon's peaks, including Three Fingered Jack, the Sisters, Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Washington. Unfortunately, he fell off Mt. Washington and had to stop climbing for a year. They purchased a home in Dufur and the weekend they were to move, Nick was m Eugene, OR. He told Marcia that he had to study, and she would need to find

someone to help her move. His climbing buddy tattled and Marcia found out he was climbing Mt. Jefferson. She asked him if his back got tired from packing all the books up the mountain. 

He became interested in scuba diving while working at the U of I and he and Marcia spent several vacations in Cozumel and Turks and Caicos so he could go diving with some of his friends. His grandchildren learned to scuba dive and went on two cruises with Nick and Marcia and also joined them one summer in Cozumel.

While in Boise, he started cross country skiing and joined a group of weekend cross country skiers, sometimes camping out in the winter with them.  He, Marcia and the grandchildren spent many summer days fishing and water skiing on Brownlee Reservoir. He continued fishing a waterskiing when they moved to a house on the Snake River in Rupert. He joined the Pomerelle Ski Patrol and, after two knee replacements, he started to patrol on his snowboard. When he retired from the ski patrol, he was given a life time pass which he used frequently during the winter.

Nick loved history and enjoyed going on tours to different countries. His favorite was Israel. As a child, the female minister at his church in Council told the students that they needed to visit the Holy Lands. She shared stories of her two trips to the Holy Lands. He also went to Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, England, Jordan, St. Petersburg, Berlin and the Baltic Sea Countries.

In addition to his wife, Marcia, Nick is survived by a brother, Darrel Hallett of Bainbridge Island, WA, his daughter, Lauri Keller of Midland, TX, and his son, Jae Hallett of Boise and New Meadows, ID. He is also survived by 3 grandsons, Matthew Keller of Bismarck, ND, Kyle Keller of Midland, Texas and Joshua Hallett of Florida and 1 granddaughter, Dr. Heather Fox of Portland, OR. He has four great granddaughters and one step great granddaughter.

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on April 13, 2019 at the Rupert United Methodist Church.  Arrangements are under the direction of Joel Heward Hansen Mortuary.

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