September 21, 1932 – November 2, 2017
Longtime Washington horseman and respected equine reproduction specialist, A. L. “Bud” Hallowell, 85, passed away at home on November 2, 2017. Bud was appointed to the Washington Horse Racing Commission in December 2004 upon the death of fellow veterinarian Dr. Robert Mead. He served until December 2012 when he resigned to care for his ailing wife. He had first been licensed by the WHRC in 1954.
He was born in Yakima on September 21, 1932, to Russell and Ruth Hallowell, joining his sister Mary. His love of horses led him, at the age of 12, to begin hot-walking horses at Longacres Racetrack in Renton. He graduated from Highline High School, the same school from which his future wife, Pat, also graduated. Bud attended Washington State College and received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in 1957.
Bud practiced veterinary medicine in Washington from 1957 to 1963, working for clinics in Ellensburg and Centralia before becoming the farm veterinarian for the Agnew family’s T-9-O Ranch in Tenino. In January of 1964 the family moved to Kentucky to allow Bud to work with famed equine practitioner Dr. William McGee. After spending the 1964 breeding and foaling season in Lexington, he turned down an offer to remain in practice with Dr. McGee and returned to Washington to start a private equine practice. During the remaining years of his veterinary career he specialized in work concerned with breeding and foaling horses, mainly Thoroughbreds.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, he and Pat became commercial Thoroughbred breeders. Among the many good horses the Auburn couple bred was 1981 Washington champion three-year-old Tavy Blue, whose dam Miss Peone was named Washington broodmare of the year that same season.
The longtime WTBOA member served on the WTBOA board of directors, as sales veterinarian and on the sales, magazine and various other committees, as well as on various industry-related committees and advisory boards, including the board of the Washington Thoroughbred Foundation.
He was a lifetime member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCT).
He was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia, in 2014; and daughter, Laurie Rae Weiss, in 2013. Bud is survived by his sister, Mary Auvil; daughter, Lynn Hallowell; son-in-law, Rolf Torgerson; granddaughter, Lysne Torgerson; and grandson-in-law, Jeff Stein.
*As published by Washington Horse Racing Commission