Beryl Denise McHale

Beryl Denise (Negrón) McHale, 72, died on June 21, 2024, in Boulder, CO, surrounded by family.

Denise was born August 21, 1951, to Victor and Minerva (Vaca) Negrón in Honolulu, in what was then the territory of Hawaii, where her father was stationed while serving in the US Navy. Hawaii became a state on her eighth birthday, in 1959, which she always said was her favorite birthday present.

 Soon after Denise’s birth, her family moved to San Antonio, TX, where Denise spent most of her childhood. When her father took a position as an attorney for the US Air Force, the family followed him to Panama and then to the Washington, DC, area.

 The second-eldest of eight, Denise helped her mother run the busy household, which was the start of a life of caring for others. After graduating from Surrattsville High School in Clinton, MD, in 1969, Denise spent a couple of years as a legal secretary before moving to Michigan with her then-husband, Michael McHale, where she found her true calling as a caseworker for the State of Michigan Department of Social Services.

 For several decades, she worked relentlessly and compassionately to help low-income and unhoused residents of Saginaw, MI, access government assistance. Denise was determined to make sure her clients had all the support they needed and deserved, and when Denise was determined, she was indomitable. She loved her work, and never gave a thought to retirement, pressing on as long as she could despite a collection of health issues that eventually proved to be Huntington’s disease.

 Denise’s personal life was fueled by that same passion for caregiving. She was happiest when she was helping others, whether taking coworkers out to lunch, running errands for elderly relatives, or lending friends money she never expected to be repaid.

 She loved good restaurants, especially when sharing the experience with others, and she always ordered expansively, shared everything, stoked the conversation, insisted on picking up the check, and tipped in a grand manner that defied any concept of rules or formulas.

 In addition to delicious food, Denise loved pop culture, voraciously reading magazines, watching movies and TV shows, and listening to music. She always knew who was starring in what, who was dating whom, who’d had a baby, and who had died.

 She sang and danced along to the radio, and if the radio wasn’t playing, she’d sing or hum anyway, often in response to what was going on around her. Driving in snowstorms always prompted a round of Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away.” She would greet her sons—even long after they were adults—with “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” and end phone calls with a verse of “Goodnight, My Love.”

 When her health forced her to retire, Denise moved to Colorado to be near her son, David, and his family. She loved music to the very end, quietly singing along as David played the Beatles song “In My Life” on his guitar in the moments before she passed.

 Denise is survived by the greatest recipients of her love and generosity, her sons David (Nina) and Conor (Heather), and her grandchildren Jack, Molly, Riley, Mary, and Wesley.

 In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to the Huntington's Disease Society of America.