WEST PLAINS, Mo. – A celebration of life service for Judge William (Bill) Ralph Hass, Springfield, formerly of Thayer, will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020, at Hass-Darr Hall on the campus of Missouri State University-West Plains.
Judge Hass passed away Dec. 30, 2019, at the age of 83.
“We are honored that the Hass family has chosen Hass-Darr Hall for the celebration of life ceremony for Judge William R. Hass,” said Missouri State-West Plains Chancellor Shirley Lawler. “It is a fitting place to celebrate his life and his legacy due to the long-time support of the university by the Hass family, including the endowment of the William R. Hass Scholarship in 1996 and the significant gift that made Hass-Darr Hall possible.”
Born Jan. 28, 1936, in Springfield, Missouri, he spent his childhood years in Thayer, graduating from Thayer High School with the class of 1954.
After graduating from Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) in Springfield in 1958 and the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 1962, he and his wife, Helen Jeanne Best, returned to Thayer in 1968 where he opened his own private law practice and they raised their family, which includes daughters Mary Helen and Melissa Anne and son William Thomas.
He was elected as Oregon County Associate Circuit Judge in 1990 and continued to serve in that position until 2003 when he moved to Springfield and served as a Senior Judge until 2017.
Judge Hass and his family, including Mary Hass Schrag, were one of two families whose recent gifts to Missouri State University helped finance the construction/renovation of West Plains’ former post office building on Garfield Avenue, now known as Hass-Darr Hall.
A memorial service also is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, at Wesley United Methodist Church in Springfield.
