Obituary, Gerald Lee Hall, 73

Gerald Lee Hall, 73 died on Oct. 24, 2016.

He was born on February 27, 1943, to Marion Louise and Glenn E. Hall, in Seattle, Washington. A year later his mother and dad divorced and his mother married Thomas C. Charlton, who in 1952 moved the family to Wrangell. Gerald attended school in Wrangell and graduated in 1962.

He moved out on his own right after high school and he and Mel Gadd shared an apartment for awhile. He started work at the saw mill on the log pond. It was very hard work but he thrived on it and did a good job feeding logs into the mill. He entered the Army in November 1965 and after his training at Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Lewis, Washington, shipped out to Vietnam with the 4th Infantry division. He was seriously injured in a mortar attack on his camp and medivaced to a hospital in Japan.

If you didn't know Gerald was in the Army. Then you didn't know Gerald because he would have told you about his service in the first five minutes of talking with him. He was proud to have served his country. After his military service he returned to Wrangell and worked at various jobs including shrimp fishing, tug boat deck hand, a season of seining and then longshoring.

In about 1970 he married Patricia Easterly and set about helping raise her four children Terri, Randy, Michelle, and Darren. However the marriage ended in 1980. On the day after Christmas 1980 Gerald married Lahoma and they had two children, Scott and Jennifer. Gerald continued to work longshoring and when not working on the ships he worked with his lifelong friend Bob Maxand, until his retirement. He took great pride in his community and his role as legion commander and working to help other vets.

He never did things half way, whether it was weight lifting, running, computers, guns or drones - he went all the way. He was competitive, stubborn and if you became a friend you were a friend for life.

A memorial service was held on October 29 at the American Legion Hall, Wrangell, Alaska.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the family to assist with memorial expenses.