Martha Hall Haley

Martha Denton Hall Haley, 71, went home on September 21, 2020. She was surrounded by those she loved the most in the world and was at peace. Martha possessed a capacity for love that seemed limitless, and anyone who happened to be in her presence was the beneficiary of that capacity.

Born in Lee County, Virginia, to the late Owen and Billie Denton Hall, she grew up in Southwest Virginia before her father took at job at WMVA in Martinsville in 1969. After leaving college, she followed suit and established her roots there. She was working for the Martinsville Police Department when a young patrolman caught her eye. While she had to give up that job, the trade-off was 47 years of marriage to Pete. She worked for over 25 years for the Department of Juvenile Justice and celebrated her retirement in the most Martha way possible—with her first trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. She loved sports, particularly baseball, college basketball, and NASCAR, and few things made her as happy as seeing “new grass on the field” at Hooker Field every Spring.

As the oldest of five children, she was perpetually known as “Sis” not just to her family but to her coworkers and friends. She had only one biological child, but she was a mother to every child/teenager/young adult that set foot in her house. She loved the sound of laughter wafting up from the basement and a full house was a fun house for her. Nothing delighted her more than Thanksgiving at the Haley house, where upwards of 30 people would cram in to eat, laugh, eat some more, and then have some pie as a nightcap.

Martha is survived by her husband, Pete, and her son, Jon. She gained a daughter in 2017 when Jon married Mandy, and in 2019 they provided her with the new light of her life in the form of Anthony Russell “Nino” Haley, her grandson.

She was incredibly close with her four siblings: Tom Hall (Julie); Linda Snow (Larry); Susan Yates (Tim); and Tim Hall (Mary). She treasured all of her nieces and nephews and loved being able to see their children begin the next generation of the Hall extended family. Though her body failed her at the end of her life, her spirit and her faith never waned. We are comforted by the knowledge that she will be with all of us whenever and wherever we need her.

A memorial service will be held at Chatham Heights Baptist Church at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, September 25, 2020. A private Interment will take place at Roselawn Burial Park.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Chatham Heights Baptist Church, 1235 Chatham Heights Road, Martinsville, VA. 24112.