October 1, 1929 - March 24, 2026
Harold “Hal” W. Monroe passed away on March 24, 2026, after a short illness. He attended schools in Ottawa Kansas and graduated from Ottawa University in Kansas in 1951 with a BS Degree in Biology and Chemistry. Upon graduation from Ottawa University, he enlisted in the Navy and went through boot camp in San Diego. On completion of boot camp, he attended the Naval Storekeepers School while waiting for appointment to Naval Officers Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated from OCS in March of 1952 and was assigned to the antisubmarine Destroyer USS Renshaw DDE-499 stationed in Pearl Harbor. On his way to Pearl Harbor from Rhode Island he stopped off in Ottawa to marry Mary DeFries, his fiancée and a student at Ottawa University.
Mary later joined him in Hawaii and enjoyed the three years they were there even though Hal was gone half of the time while participating in the Korean conflict and the 1954 Operation Castle H bomb tests in Bikini Atoll.
Hal left the Navy in February of 1955, returned to the west coast and began his 34 year career with the JCPenney Company in the Oakland, California store as a management trainee. In 1961 after a few promotions in the Oakland store, Hal was promoted to assistant store manager in Walnut Creek. In 1964 he was promoted to Men’s Merchandise Manager on the Group Staff in Oakland under Darrell Parkin, District Manager. While on the Group Staff he served as Group Merchandise Manager and Group Sales and Merchandise Manger. In 1968 he was promoted to Girls and Infants Merchandise Manager under Stewart Bates in the New York Corporate Office. In 1973 Hal was promoted to Corporate Custom Decorating Manger replacing Charlie Logan. In 1977 Hal left the New York Office to return to the west coast as manager of Hawthorne, California. He later served as manager of Carson City, Nevada and retired as manager of the Stockton, California store in December 1989.
In retirement Hal enjoyed cycling, skiing, golf and scuba diving (having completed 255 dives) and a second career in property management as software operations manager for ten years.
Hal served on the board of the Greater Chamber of Commerce of Stockton, the board of United Way and was president in 1988, the board of Stockton Symphony Association, the board of Goodwill Industries of San Joaquin, the Measure W Citizens Oversight Committee, an active member of Central United Methodist Church and the Rotary Club of Stockton, a golf coach with First Tee of San Joaquin, Club secretary and HCSC Foundation Representative of the Northern California/Nevada HCSC LMG.
He is survived by Mary, his wife of 74 years and children Linda Monroe, Michael Monroe (Victoria) and his daughters Emily (Miles) and Molly, Mark “Doug” Monroe (Leslie) and their children Katherine, her daughter Adaline and son Atticus; and Victoria, her sons Nathan and Dylan; sister-in-law Cleo of Phoenix, Arizona; sister-in-law Alice Jo De Fries of Lawrence, his brother Gene Monroe and brother-in-law Stanley De Fries preceded him in death, many nephews and nieces.
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Cherokee Memorial is honored to serve the Monroe family.