Ashley Neil Hall

Ashley Neal Hall

May 18, 1970 – December 7, 2025

Ashley Neal Hall, 55, petroleum geologist, Irish pub proprietor, master leather craftsman, musician, and world-class curmudgeon, died peacefully in his sleep on December 7, 2025, after a battle with ALS.

He was surrounded by the love of his mother, his nephew, and his lifelong best friend, which is exactly the kind of quiet, dignified exit he probably would have argued against, given his flair for the dramatic.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Ash spent his childhood on a grand tour of Texas, beginning at Bowie Elementary in Midland (the same school that produced President George W. Bush). His family moved to Abilene for seven years before landing in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville, where he survived junior high, high school, and—critically—learned to drive. Anyone who witnessed Dallas traffic in the 1980s understands this was less a rite of passage than a survival course. He could, and did, drive anywhere after that.

Ash pursued higher education with the same restless energy he brought to everything, attending Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and Rogers State College in Claremore, where he met Heide Brandes, beginning a friendship that would span more than three decades, countless arguments (which he won), and the purchase of 12 acres of Arkansas wilderness that happened to include a cave. It was their happy place, a refuge where two dreamers could simply be.

He continued his studies at the University of Central Oklahoma and earned an advanced degree in petroleum geology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. He founded Ashen Geologic and built a career in the oil and gas industry.

But Ash was never content with just one pursuit. With his lifelong friend Scott Wallace, he bought and operated The Black Raven, an Irish pub that was exactly as fun as it sounds.

A man of fierce intellect and fiercer opinions, Ash was a musician who played bass, violin, and various medieval instruments whose names he knew and you probably don’t. He was an artist, a leather craftsman whose work was as skilled as his arguments were relentless, and an avid gamer who understood that virtual worlds are just as worthy of exploration as real ones.

For twenty years, he and his friends were members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, where they founded the Camber household, a band of kindred spirits responsible for countless wild nights and the kind of laughter that echoes long after the candles burn down. Like many great chapters, it eventually closed, but the friendships forged there did not.

His passions were dark and deep. He loved Star Trek, horror films, the mythic fiction of Robert Holdstock, the cosmic dread of H.P. Lovecraft, and every episode of *Supernatural*.

He could cook and play music beautifully. He could not dance at all. He would have wanted you to know both.

Ash burned hot and bright. His humor cut clean through pretense; his brilliance could fill a room or clear it, depending on his mood. He was a dreamer who somehow made his dreams real. He had a pub, a cave, a life built on friendship and stubbornness and love.

He is survived by his mother, Carol Ann Hall; his brother, Warren K. Hall; his nephew Joshua Hall and wife McKayla; great-nephew Alex Hall; niece Brianna Hall; and nephew Brin Hall. He is also survived by his long-term partner and friend, Heide Brandes, and his closest friends: Scott Wallace, Ed Moody, Dave Overton, and Terry Stillwell, the people who knew him best and loved him anyway.

A private burial will be held at the family plot at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in rural northeast Oklahoma.

In lieu of flowers, argue passionately about something that matters,  Ash would approve.

Donations may be made to the ALS Association in Ash’s memory at [www.als.org](http://www.als.org).

Services for Ashley Neil Hall will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 13, 2025, at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Adair. Ashley passed away on Sunday,