Hale Horstman, was a sister and friend to many people. After overcoming breast cancer over 10 years ago, her cancer sadly took a new path into her bones during the past several years and brought an end to her earthly life on September 13, 2026. We are all very sad, but we honor who she was, because she was a very special woman.

Hale was born Tami Hale Horstman, on February 10, 1961. In her early years, she had the very rare privilege of helping her family take care of seals and sea lions. She lived on a boat with her siblings and parents in both New Jersey and the Florida Keys while her parents trained the animals to help bring tools to divers. Quite an unusual and auspicious start in life. It’s highly likely that her lifelong love of the ocean started during those years.

After her family left the Keys, they settled in Maryland and Hale attended the Easton Country Day School in Easton Maryland. She loved animals and always had a passel of dogs around her. She loved horses too and she was a talented young equestrian who won many blue ribbons on her horse, Blue Lady.

A bit further into her teens, she attended Oldfields School near Baltimore where she advanced her equestrian prowess and added field hockey to her athletic interests. It was at Oldfields that she first held a camera with purpose, working with friends in the school’s wet, dank dark rooms. The camera eventually became one of the loves of her life and a vocation, as well as a hobby.

Harkening back to her love of the sea, she lived in several coastal communities over the years. No surprise, Hale was talented and determined in her passion as a photographer. She took a lot of pictures. She honed her skills not just near her ocean homes, but across the country, across the Atlantic Ocean and everywhere she traveled.

Hale never stopped being creative and having fun at the same time. She moved to Folly Beach and helped raise two stepchildren, whom she loved dearly. During this phase of her life, she became a passionate surfer, then joined the Folly Beach Wahines, participating in and then coaching breast cancer survivors in Dragon Boat Racing in Folly Beach. She was very passionate due to having breast cancer herself. Indeed, she was a surfing champion with a love of sport and the sea and turned her greatest challenge of cancer into opportunities to help others in her community and beyond. She coached and raced in many places, including Canada, helping to raise money for and lift up other cancer patients and survivors.

In the early 2020s Hale moved back to Charleston and pursued photography in big and serious way. She maintained a studio at Redux and used her time to create, sell and exhibit her art. She converted many of her old photographs to digital versions, making them more accessible to a wider audience. Clearly it is the combination of all her activities that made her so interesting and fun. It was just “cool” to be around her.

Hale enjoyed life and loved people. She had a beautiful, hearty laugh and she spread that laughter and joy whenever she was with her friends. And yes, she had many friends, from many walks of life, and that gave her great joy. Her family and friends will dearly miss her. She is gone from our sight, much too soon…but she will be with us in spirit, forever.

Rest in peace, Miss Hale.

Service of Remembrance Sat, Oct 17, 2026, 11:00 am. Magnolia Cemetery, 70 Cunnington Ave. Charleston. Reception following service at Redux Contemporary Art Center, 1056 King Street. Charleston.

Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc. Downtown Chapel

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