Survived by: Phyllis L. Hall, wife and three children (Carol Hall Martin, Richard Harold Hall and wife Ronda, and Glenn Alan Hall). He is also survived by one cousin Philip Lee, and wife.... three nephews and one niece, Stephen Amundson and wife Terry, Craig Amundson and wife Sharon, David Gualeni, and niece Diane Rittgers. He is also survived by a large extended family.
He was born in San Pedro, California to William Herald Hall and Mary Ella Lycan Hall. He had two older sisters, Alice June and Billie Jean. They all predeceased Harold. He lived in San Pedro until moving to Arizona in 2000. He and wife Phyllis L. Hall have lived in Surprise, Arizona for twenty years. They have a home in an over 55 community called Sun City Grand.
He preferred being called by his middle name from a young age. Sometimes he was called Junior by the family (notice that his father's middle name is actually spelled differently). Otherwise he went by Hal or Harold most of his life. His early years were spent with many relatives and friends. His two grandmothers were present in his life until the 1960's and 70's. They did not always live nearby but they had an influence on him. His mother's mother had three husbands and they also were part of his growing up. His sisters were popular in school and the town and his mother had several important volunteer leadership roles.
Harold went to elementary school in San Pedro and went on to Dana Jr. High and San Pedro High School. He played tennis at San Pedro and had friends in sports there. He went on to USC and majored in Chemistry. Harold worked at his father's sheet metal shop part time while he was going to USC. He talked to his father and decided Chemistry was not the correct major. They decided that he would join his father's shop. So he finished his BA in Math and Business.
Phyllis Louise Beaupre had lived in San Pedro during WWII and also went to Dana Jr. High and San Pedro High School. The two did not know each other at that time. She graduated in 1951 and Harold had graduated in 1950. They had several mutual friends however. Two of these friends who were dating invited Phyllis to attend a Methodist Church retreat in Arrowhead in the week between Christmas and New Year's 1952-1953. Harold was the driver of the car for the three of them. He asked Phyllis to go to a movie on New Year's Eve. They dated for the next three years. Phyllis was attending school at UCLA and remember the schools were rivals. But Phyllis and Harold went to each other's games for most of those years. The dates also included movies, events at Harold's fraternity and meeting each family. They married in July 22' 1956.
Their children were born in this order: Carol Louise was born on January 29, 1959, Richard Harold was born on February 21, 1962, and Glenn Alan was born on May 27, 1963. The years they were growing up were very busy for both parents. Phyllis was teaching Junior High School but as a long term substitute for most of those years. The Marine Sheet Metal Shop was busy, as the fishing was good in San Pedro. All three children did well in school and had friends nearby. Richard and Glenn both got started in Little League and enjoyed it. Harold helped coach most of the years they played. Carol had many interests including playing the piano.
One important group of people should be mentioned. Phyllis and Harold helped start a young married group at First United Methodist Church in San Pedro. The name of the group was Pilots. They named it after the Pilots who guided ships into their docks at the harbor. They hoped to guide their children in their religious growth. It continued for many years of good friendship and all the children were friends for years. Pilots met once a month and had many activities. They also went camping and had various other fun times together. New members of the church were invited and the group grew.
Phyllis and Harold moved to a new house in 1970. It was in a section of town that actually voted to become part of Rancho Palos Verdes instead of being part of Los Angeles. The children still went to Los Angeles schools however. Dodson Junior High was a rather new addition to the school system and right around the corner from their new house. All three went on to graduate San Pedro High, same as their parents. Phyllis quit teaching in 1977 and became a busy volunteer in several different organizations. The fishing industry was changing In the 70's and 80's and this affected the sheet metal shop also. Harold was now running the shop but his father was owner.
At this time Harold was also helping two artists who worked in metal. One made huge pieces out of stainless steel. The shop made the pieces and then the artist had help in finishing them so they shined brightly. The art work was commissioned by cities, cruise ships, etc. Harold also was making furniture for the house including cabinets and tables. His ability to create things was a lifelong passion.
As life was changing for the family, Phyllis and Harold travelled in RV's a great deal when they could take the time. During their travels, it was always Harold who took the photos as he had a real interest in photography and loved to document the scenery they saw. The one odd thing was that he never took photos with people in them. He always waited until the area was clear and it was just the scenery. He loved showing slide shows of their travels when they got back. One of the first long trips they took was to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand in 1969 for the Lions Club International Convention. They went with some of the Lions Club members. Harold was a member of Lions and did a lot of volunteer work with this very large club for many years. Phyllis was a member of Lady Lions and also busy with them.
Harold had a true passion for golf and he was good at it. He also bowled from the time he was a teen and quite often with at least one member of his family. Phyllis did neither of these sports until she quit teaching. Then she learned both and they started traveling with Harold's sister and brother many places. The year Billie Jean retired from teaching kindergarten they all went to Alaska on a cruise and later in the spring they went to Hawaii. They all went to England and Scotland in 1989.
Phyllis and Harold had wanted to move to a golf course home for some time. After Harold's father died in 1998 and since Harold had retired already and Carol was getting married in the Christmas season of 1999 to John Martin (which was a beautiful wedding) the timing seemed right. All the children had returned to live at home at various times so Carol and John were asked to live there while Phyllis and Harold made final plans to move to Arizona.
They moved in to the new house in July 2000. There were many reasons for the move, but living in a lovely community of Sun City Brand in Surprise, Arizona was a good choice. The four golf courses and too many choices of things to do were a great match. They joined New Song United Methodist Church, also a good choice. Harold did not attend very often but Phyllis got very involved in the church choir and later the UMW. Phyllis joined Grand Singers in Sun City Grand also. Harold found a new interest that developed quite by accident. He found there were classes in stained glass at the community center and was soon very involved. Especially when the teacher discovered he was so great at welding from his background working with sheet metal. She even asked him to teach the welding part. His pieces were so well done that he did many items for friends and neighbors.
They also were very lucky to be part of the development of a new neighbor's group. One neighbor went up and down our street and got names, addresses, phone numbers and pet's names of everyone. She handed out the list to everyone and had a party in her garage. Harold and I were unable to attend that party so we threw the next party in December. This group has stayed together in various forms to this day. The group always asked new people who moved in to join. Several people moved nearby and still come also. The men have had lunches on Tuesday together for all of those years. The women have had some breakfasts together and birthday parties for most of the years. The big parties are still going on also.
Lions also started a new Surprise Grand Club right when we moved in. So we were founding members. There have been many challenges and changes along the way. We found new ways of raising money and carrying out our motto "We Serve". Some of them include a golf tournament the second year of the Club and it was successful but so much was involved that it wasn't possible to continue. We took on cleaning streets and this was successful and built cooperation. We made money by delivering a magazine which had ads and some local color and information. Harold was in charge of the routes for the cars and the carts that delivered them throughout Sun City Grand. The next big money raiser was our volunteering to man the information booths at the PIR racing track. They gave us money for our charities. Right now we have purchased a newly invented devise that tests children's eyes and have helped in getting glasses for some.
I guess it is time to tell about Harold's memory loss. I guess we knew something was happening to him. But he lost his hearing in his right ear when he was a baby and also worked a noisy industry so we were not sure if something else was going wrong or not. At first the signs were rather small and confusing.
But gradually Phyllis was convinced he was in the first stages of Alzheimer's disease and the one doctor did tests and confirmed it. Harold stayed at an early stage for quite a while but things got worse near the end of 2018. He did play golf with Glenn and Phyllis in February of 2019. But things got far worse when they both were at fault for Phyllis breaking her wrist. She needed help at that time and hired Home Instead to help with household tasks and take basic care of Harold and allow her to leave the house. Then it was clear that he should have full time care and was admitted to Rock Creek Memory Care in September 2019. They took good care of him but he fell a lot and other clues showed he was declining rapidly. They shut off all visits to the facility at the time it was declared a rule. Harold did not do well then and died April 13". Phyllis did see him on April 9" and hired Hospice of the Valley at that time.
In all marriage there is some give and take. Sometimes things are hard but must be worked through if possible. There were shared interest and basic morality for both Phyllis and Harold. And some special things that were more of a passion for each. For Harold it was all sports, especially golf and bowling, making items of steel, wood and stained glass, reading and financial affairs. Phyllis was involved mainly in music, history, some art projects and she took leadership roles in several organizations. Harold didn't like that responsibility of an office in groups, partly because of his hearing. But they supported each other.
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