Fredrick Hall

Fredrick Hall 71 of Stone Mountain GA passed away on April 17, 2019. The fall in Houston, Texas brings a welcome reprieve from the sweltering, oppressive, heat and humidity of the summer, but not from the warmth in the hearts of its people. The fall of 1947 saw the post war boom and Willie and Edna Thomas Hall were right in the midst of it, continuing their careers and creating their family. Edna was a baccalaureate RN who graduated from Prairieview A&M in 1937 and worked nights at St. Joseph’s Hospital while Willie Hall who, after working in the shipyard in Philadelphia during the war, relocated his family to Houston and took a job at Armco Steel. By the time Fredrick was born on October 16, 1947, the Halls were established in their home on Farmer Street in Fifth Ward (“The Nickel,” “The Bloody Nickel,” “Fifth Ward, Texas”). He came home to big brothers James Edward, 7, Willie Morris, 5, and big sister Camilla Joyce, 1. From the outset, the Halls made an indelible mark in their community by their commitment to it. Aunt Alice lived in the apartment above the garage on Farmer Street and helped cook and take care of the kids. They have been a fixture at Antioch Baptist for more than 70 years. Willie Hall was a Deacon until his death in 2005 and Edna was Deaconess until her death in 2004. As a nurse, she was always walking up and down the street “taking care of the old people” even into her 90’s. Willie Hall was always managing to take care of the widows and widowers who could no longer drive. As the youngest of the Hall children, there were natural alliances. Camilla, only 1 year older, and Willie Morris, the brother closest to him and the only brother remaining at home through elementary school, were the ones. Camilla and Fredrick, according to family lore, were the 2 kids that didn’t get to go on vacation, but rather got dropped off in the “country” on the farm with cousin Sandra in the summers while James and Willie Morris went on vacation with the parents. Camilla was the only one of the 4 kids who did not go to high school in Fifth Ward. She went to high school in Third Ward which created serious security issues for the younger brother, Fredrick who had primary bodyguard duty for his sister. Again, according to family stories, Fredrick on many occasions had to make hasty departures to the safety of Fifth Ward from Third Ward after some of Camilla’s shenanigans. As luck would have it, the summers spent in Luling/Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas with Camilla represented some of the best of times for Fredrick. It was during those summers spent on Grandpa Dee and Grandma Lula’s farm that forged the lifelong relationship with favorite cousin, Sandra Thomas, and the closeness to his sister. There were stories and memories about the watermelon fields. It was they who ate the watermelons in the fields and not the jack rabbits on whom blame was laid by Papa Dee. Stories abound about cutting the heads off the alfalfa plants and the resultant war wounds, the peach orchard across the road, Grandma Lula’s garden from where all the fresh vegetables came, and the kids sleeping on the screened-in front porch, which on the hot, pitch black nights on the farm, was the coolest place to be. There were even more stories about how well respected Papa Dee was among the community of farmers of all races. Fredrick followed behind Willie Morris in all sorts of mayhem. Once such occurrence happened when Willie Morris jumped over the gas stove and instructed the smaller Fredrick to do likewise. Fredrick didn’t make it and the image of the stove remains on his abdomen to this day. (BTW, it really was Willie Morris who threw the cat down the well!) After elementary school years spent at Atherton and graduating from Phyllis Wheatley High School in 1965, Fred enrolled in Texas Southern University, where the spent one year, and once again following Willie Morris, he joined the United States Army. Willie Morris went to Panama and Fredrick went to Vietnam in 1966 as a member of the elite E Troop, 17th Cavalry,173rd Airborne Brigade as a paratrooper and recon soldier scouting out the location of the enemy and relaying that information back to his outfit. He fought in such pivotal battles as the taking of “Hill 875, and the “Tet Offensive.” Although never physically wounded, he did get a radio shot off of his back, only to return home to a hostile, ungrateful country who referred to those combat veterans as “baby killers.” He would never discuss the pain of that experience until the last few years when he joined a PTSD group at the VA, a group of veterans connected by a shared experience that inextricably bound them in perpetuity. “The Friday Group,” as they have come to be known, “show-up and show-out” to respond to whatever perceived need there may be. To be sure, it is not overstatement, to say that they have saved one another’s lives. They can always be depended upon. After his return. From “The War,” Fredrick was assigned to there 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina where, at age 20, he was a Staff Sergeant (E6) wearing a “Smoky, the Bear Hat, a drill sergeant training new recruits. By the fall of 1969, Fredrick jumped into his Chevy Malibu SS and pointed it in the direction of I-85N and I-10W back to what he had always known, Houston, Texas. He then re-enrolled in TSU and while working nights at Armco Steel, completed his Batchelor of Business Administration in 1972. The oldest of the Hall boys, James exerted his influence on Fredrick by way of his sales prowess. James was in pharmaceutical sales while Fredrick chose a career in automotive sales. His automotive experiences included District Manager for Mobil Oil, Regional Manager for Ford Motor Company. It was during this time, while living in New Orleans that his only daughter, Feleshia was born. By 1980, he had set his sights on dealership ownership and was accepted into GM’s prestigious General Motors Training Institute (GMI) in Flint , Michigan, after which he purchased Garden City Ford in Augusta, GA. Over the next several years, he always found himself in automotive related businesses, ultimately retiring from Daimler Trucks of North America (parent company of Mercedes Benz) in 2015. In 1986, Fredrick and Dr. Alda Underwood-Hall were married in the Little Chapel at Morehouse College with music provided by the great Dr. Wendell Whalum with the stipulation that the bride would sing in his community choir! From that union were born two sons, Fredrick Douglas Hall II, 1988, and Langston Avery Hall, 1991. The years subsequent to that were filled with all sorts of adventures, new friends, old friends, travel, etc. God granted the Halls much Grace, a Grace for which the family continues to be grateful. In April of 2018, a cancer diagnosis rocked the Hall household, but in true form, Fredrick did what he always did, he soldiered through. With the support of his family, his fellow veterans, his neighbors and friends, he kept moving, and as such, he survived far longer than the severity of his diagnosis would suggest. He was treated extraordinarily well by the doctors and staff of Internal Medicine, Hematology-Oncology, and Palliative Care at the VA Hospital. Fred is survived by his wife, Dr. Alda Underwood-Hall, daughter Feleshia Sams (David) of Atlanta, sons, Fredrick Douglas Hall II, of Atlanta, and Langston Avery Hall currently of Patras, Greece, sister, Camilla Jackson and brother Willie Morris Hall (Ida) of Houston Texas, brother, James Hall (Stella) of Rancho Cucamonga, CA, nephew, Micheal Steen (Susan) of Reading, England, nieces, Kellie Barnett (Martin) of Rancho Cucamonga, CA, and Riki Henry, and Regina Moore of Houston, TX, grandson, Roco Sams of Atlanta, GA. Celebration of Life Services will be held at the South DeKalb Chapel of Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Home on Thursday April 25, 2019 at 11:00 AM. He will be laid to rest at Georgia National Cemetery on Monday April 29, 2019 at 11:00 AM. Visitation hours will be set from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Wednesday April 24, 2019 at the South DeKalb Chapel. Please express your condolences here on our website. Services entrusted to Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Home, South Dekalb Chapel. 4347 Flat Shoals Pkwy, Decatur GA 30034. 404-241-5656.

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Fredrick Hall

April 17, 2019