Kathleen Steele Hall

To say Kathleen loved an adventure is an understatement. It would be shorter to list the countries she hadn't visited than the ones she had. Kathleen, or Kitty when she was young, was born on February 2, 1944 in Long Beach, California to George and Patricia “Pat” Steele, two years after her brother George was born. Her father was an engineer for Bechtel and her mother, a homemaker. They relocated to Houston, Texas when Kathleen was in the fourth grade. Kathleen had an independent spirit. She was never one to follow the crowd. She was highly intelligent, sailing through all her subjects in school. But being bookish didn’t attract the boys. So, she decided to enroll at Texas Tech where she heard there were ten cowboys to every one gal. (See, we told you she was smart!)

After graduating Texas Tech, her boyfriend wanted her to get her MRS, but Kathleen had other plans. In 1965, she volunteered for the Peace Corps. As a young girl, she had suffered terrible ear aches and ultimately lost the hearing in her left ear. Typically, this would make a person unqualified for the Peace Corps. But, thankfully, her assigned tester could see the passion in her eyes and fudged her score. Kathleen went on to volunteer in Malawi, Africa where she met Al Hall, who had originally volunteered in Nigeria but, due to a civil war, he was relocated. It was an instant connection. Kathleen was a Public Health Volunteer, where she studied tuberculosis and administer TB skin tests. She and Al had a German Shepperd named Simba and Al had a pet monkey who crawled under his shirt when he rode his motorcycle from town to town. When Kathleen’s tour ended, she traveled the world but became so homesick for Al, she cut her trip short and returned to Malawi to be reunited. Al had re-upped for one more year of Peace Corps and was given three weeks leave before his next tour so they visited family in California. One afternoon, Al took Kathleen skiing. Years later, Kathleen would develop a terrible fear of heights, but luckily at this moment in time, she fought her fear. That day, Al took to his knee in the snow and proposed. They were married on Mount Tamalpais one week later and then moved back to Malawi without mentioning Al was bringing his new bride. The Peace Corps was very accommodating and Kathleen continued working various jobs in the Peace Corps.

After the Peace Corps, Kathleen and Al moved to Roanoke, Virginia where Kathleen worked as a social worker in Appalachia before moving to New York City, where she earned two Masters in Social Work and a Ph.D. in Psychiatric Epidemiology from Columbia University. She worked with bipolar patients in the New York State Psychiatric Hospital, often meeting celebrities in the throes of a manic episode (though she never shared their names), but would later share fantastic stories with her children. In 1980, Kathleen and Al welcomed their first daughter, Gretchen. Two years later, after living in the Bahamas and Miami following Al’s work in insurance, they welcomed their second daughter, Kitty. They then relocated to Indianapolis where their sons, Allan and then George were born.

In Indianapolis, Kathleen was a Professor of Psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine. With her IUPUI team, she developed a now world-famous international epidemiological study to research Alzheimer's disease and developed a groundbreaking diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease that is used in literate and illiterate communities and is currently used all over the world. Her studies have been citied over 12,000 times and the test she made has been translated into over fifty languages. In 1999, Kathleen received the Sagamore of the Wabash from the Governor of Indiana, one of the highest honors in Indiana. Through her work, she was able to continue her adventures and instill in her children a love of travel. She took her family to Nigeria, Kenya, China, Australia, a Cree reservation in Canada, many European countries and more, all while researching her study and making presentations at numerous reputable conferences. After retiring, Kathleen pivoted and became a docent at the IMA/Newfields Museum for five years. She adored the friendships she made there and, more than that, loved taking school children on tours. She left the IMA this past year and was just beginning to volunteer at the Indianapolis Zoo where she was hoping to spend time with Rocky, the orangutan.

Kathleen had a witty sense of humor, a love of creating lists, a habit of never throwing away her tissues, a foot that was constantly tapping, a taste for a McDonald’s Happy Meal, an appreciation for a lemon drop martini and Real Housewives, a love of books, a tradition of reading the Sunday funny papers with her children and grandchildren, a talent for creating comics and drawings featuring her family, an incredible intellect, a glorious and infectious laugh, and the ability to see love in any situation.

After a long journey with breast cancer, Kathleen passed peacefully, surrounded by her children and her husband, on June 1st, 2022, while cottonwood and white flowers floated down from the trees. A double rainbow was spotted an hour after her passing.

She is survived by her loving husband, James Allan “Al” Hall, her four children, Gretchen, Kitty, Allan and George, her two sons-in-laws, Freddy Arsenault and Olivier Bastard, her daughter-in-law Lydia Hall, her six grandchildren, Imogen, Luna, Ingrid, Raphäel, Elliott, and Sloane and her brother, George Steele.

A funeral for Kathleen will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church on June 10th, at 2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Kathleen Hall’s name to The Alzheimer’s Association, https://www.alz.org/indiana, in honor of her monumental contribution to Alzheimer’s research.

If you feel inclined to send a note or flowers, please send it to the Hall Family home.