Harry Gene Hall

Posted on October 28, 2022

Harry Gene Hall, 89, passed away on Oct. 8, 2022, in Perry. His last hours were spent with his children and beloved friends, hearing his favorite music and hearing his favorite poetry. Harry was born June 27, 1933, in Foley, Fla., to Claude Talmadge Hall and Ella Algierene Hall. He was raised in Foley and attended Foley School, Taylor County High School and then Florida State University for his bachelor’s degree. He later attended Tulane University, where he graduated with a master’s degree in public health. After college, Harry intended to get married, but the Korean War had other ideas. He was drafted and so his marriage and new job were put on hold. Upon discharge from the United States Navy, he married his lifelong love, Shirley Parker, and they settled in St. Petersburg. There, he began work with the Pinellas County Health Department, beginning a career that would span four decades and take him from an entry level sanitarian to the director of the Division of Environmental Health. His work also led to his being awarded “Sanitarian of the Year” by the Florida Environmental Health Association prior to his retirement. During this time, he and Shirley raised three children, bought a home in the Gateway development and experienced a life their parents never imagined during the Great Depression. Upon retirement, they traveled abroad and domestically, and adored their grandchildren and great-nieces and nephews in addition to their lifelong friends and many family members, both blood and chosen. Dad had a quick and wicked sense of humor. He loved poetry and could recite classics and some that were best kept to adult company. He was a practical joker. He was an amazing storyteller and had a prolific memory up to the very end. He was a historian. And he raised a storytelling daughter with a broad sense of humor who went on to obtain a degree in history, and two engineer sons who have wicked and quick senses of humor, not to mention an insane predilection for over-thetop practical jokes. Dad was articulate and intelligent, yet knew how to sharpen a knife, build a dog coffin, grow grapes, oranges and tomatoes, and paint a house or turn a bowl. He helped people whenever he could, both professionally and personally. He supported Mom in her work with PEO International, helping young women obtain their bachelor’s degrees and further their education for years. He was a member of the Taylor County Historical Society. He was part of Taylor County history. He was a role model for all of us growing up, and we made our choices accordingly. Family was ever-present in Dad’s life. There was a plethora of blood kin, and an equally generous measure of chosen family. Harry Hall is survived by: his sister, Claudia Virginia Hall Callen; his daughter and son-in-law, Cyndena Ann Hall and Edward Russell Grubbs; son and daughter-inlaw, Jeffrey Bryan and Denise Castleberry Hall; grandsons, Bryan Parker and William Castleberry Hall; son and daughter-inlaw, Martin Ryan and Michel Mais Hall; granddaughter, Sara Frances Hall Hushek and her husband, Michael Hushek; granddaughters, Erin Hall and Alyssa Hall; and the greatly anticipated Olivia Ann Hushek, the first great-grandchild and greatniece to come to the family. Additional beloved family include: Gregory and Pam Parker, Gale Parker and Hugh Hall, Regina and Randy Taylor, Richard and Claire McMahon, Charise Williams and Mark Summerour, Kathleen Readdick Hall, Royce Ratliff, Cecil and Suzanne Carlton, Nancy and Max Case, Betty Culbreath and Rosie Leggett, Julie Pogue, Janie Howland, Susan Henderson Pease and Jeffrey Henderson, Hank and Donna Koren, Jad and Diana Jacob and the entire Jacob Family. All lifelong and chosen family. Harry Hall was preceded in death by: his wife, lifelong partner and “Buddy,” Shirley Parker Hall; his parents, Claude and Algierene Hall; and his brother, Reginald Hall. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Nov. 5, at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 310 Plantation Road, in Perry. Interment will be held prior to the memorial in a private ceremony with immediate family present. We are certain that the spirals of the cosmos now echo with laughter and the stardust paths of the galaxies resound with joy. Another beloved ancestor has joined the Great Dance.