Sammie Atha Hall

Sammie (Sam) Hall passed away peaceably Sunday morning at his Ventura home in the company of family and close friends. He succumbed to complications arising from metastasized colon cancer, Dementia, Alzheimer’s and stroke at age 90.

Sammie was born in Plummerville, Arkansas, one of a family of six children. He grew up in Plainview on the high plains of north Texas. Sammie graduated from Chillicothe Business College in Missouri, which he attended on a football scholarship, majoring in business administration. Sam was an excellent offensive lineman and was selected for the conference all-star football team as a guard.

He was a twenty year career veteran of the U. S. Army. He rose through the ranks from Private at enlistment in 1944 to the rank of Major when he retired in 1964. His service included combat duty during the Korean Conflict, where he was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart. Sam distinguished himself in combat winning a bronze star for bravery including an oak leaf cluster and ‘V’ for Valor. As a young soldier Sam was quite a boxer. He won the regimental boxing championship in his weight class, light heavyweight, and then fought up one class to win the heavyweight division as well.

In 1964 Sam was appointed Ventura Police Department Range Master. He took the small police range on the hills overlooking west Ventura and developed it to a capacity of nearly forty shooters. He designed a night shooting course and was instrumental in the acquisition of automated reloading equipment to increase the effectiveness of and reduce costs of its operation to the department.

Sam was a member of the Ventura Police Department pistol team and held the rating of Distinguished Master with the California Combat Association. He retired from service to the city of Ventura in December of 1987.

He instructed thousands of local students age 10 to 70 in the California Hunter Safety Course. Sam was also a long time Instructor in handgun marksmanship for the Ventura College Police Science Department. He taught his last class there in 2006.

During WW II, while serving with the 42nd Infantry Division, European Campaign, he met and married a lovely Austrian Ballerina, Elizabeth (Liezl) Schlair. Sam and Liezl were active supporters of the Sacred Heart Parish in East Ventura. Liezl passed away in 1997. Together they had: two children; Herbert Hall (Marie) and Ingrid Mackey (William) of Ventura, four grandchildren; Julia Alcocer (Joseph) of Minors Oaks, Ann Jones (George) of Pt. Hueneme, Samuel Hall of Bakersfield and Alexander Hall (Heather) of Bakersfield and four great-grandchildren; Natalie Nichols of Bakersfield, Dylan Pfefferle Hall of Ventura, Liam Jones of Pt. Hueneme, and Ari Hall of Bakersfield, and more on the way. Sam is also survived by longtime friend, companion and caregiver Olive Britt as well as two sisters Clara Maggard of Antlers, OK and Alexia Leachman of Amarillo, TX.

In lieu of flowers please make donations in Sammie’s name to the Livingston Foundation