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William "Bill" Hall '73 July 13, 2021 1:58 PM updated: July 13, 2021 2:08 PM

William Henry Hall, Ph.D.
July 20, 1935 ~ January 25, 2020 (age 84)

William Henry Hall, or Bill as he was known, passed away on January 25, 2020 at his home in Galveston, surrounded by family after a brief illness. He was 84 years old.

Bill was born on July 20, 1935 in Georgia to Henry Theron Hall and Helen Lydia Potts. His father, Henry, was a manager for the A&P Grocery chain, specializing in reorganizing troubled or under-performing stores. As a result, the family moved frequently during Bill’s early years and eventually arrived in Texas in 1940, just before Bill’s fifth birthday. Bill was followed by two younger brothers, Robert Barnes Hall, or Bob, born in 1936, and James Theron Hall, or Jimmy, born in 1939.

In 1945 the family moved to Navasota. Bill showed an early affinity for art, and while still in high school began taking art lessons by correspondence course. He graduated from Navasota High School in 1954 and briefly attended Texas A&M University in College Station. In 1955, Bill moved to Chicago where he enrolled as a student in the American Academy of Art. In 1956 Bill returned to Texas, where he got a job in the Art Department of Prudential Insurance Co. in Houston, doing paste-up and general commercial art projects.

Bill returned to college in 1957, this time at the University of Texas at Austin studying English, Art, and German. He graduated in 1960 and accepted a position teaching English at Ball High School in Galveston. In 1962 he married Sara Ralston Young Einerson, and in 1964 they had a son, Andrew. Bill received his master’s degree in English from the University of Houston in 1966, and in 1967 the family moved to Brownsville, where Bill had a teaching appointment at Texas Southmost College (now known as the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). They remained there until the beginning of 1970, when Bill began his doctoral work at Texas A&M University in College Station.

In 1974 Bill graduated with a Ph.D. in English, one of the first awarded by Texas A&M. The family returned to Galveston, where he picked up teaching again at Ball High School, and would remain for most of the rest of his career. He taught Master’s English Literature and Composition Class (known today as AP English), and other English classes. He helped sponsor the Arts Council and the Wharf Rats, a club dedicated to the Galveston shipping and merchant marine industries. He was also involved with the Explorer Scouts.

Over the years Bill developed strong ideas on the way reading and literacy should be most effectively taught, resulting in his privately-published textbook, “Perception of Meaning.” He also taught an evening adult literacy class at Ball High School, which served as his inspiration behind the book. During this period, he also served as a consultant for the College Board and other state and national level educational organizations.

In 1981 he married Jeanne Mae Engels Caillouet, who taught Home Economics at Ball High, and they remained together for the next four decades until her passing in 2018. He became a friend, confidant, teacher, and mentor to her four children, Suzanne, Theresa, Michelle, and Chris.

After retiring from full-time teaching in the early 1990s, Bill took part-time adjunct positions at Galveston College and Texas A&M University at Galveston, but devoted a majority of his time to his artwork and principal pastime, genealogy. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Bill worked extensively with the Galveston Ballet, the Galveston Art Council, and the Galveston Symphony, where he developed artwork and designed posters used for performances, programs, and other printed material. Bill worked mostly in pencil and ink, although he occasionally used pastel and chalk. Bill spent a great deal of time with photography, shooting, developing, and printing his own work. He loved classical music, and accumulated a substantial collection of recordings. Bill and Jeanne traveled regularly, beginning with their honeymoon in Bermuda to later trips to Europe. Their greatest travels included trips around the United States, visiting children and grandchildren. One of Bill’s last major trips, in December 2018, was to visit his granddaughter, Emily, in Washington, D.C., a city he had never visited before. During this trip he was able to visit the White House, the U.S. Capitol, Arlington National Cemetery, and his favorite, the Masonic House of the Temple.

As a young man, Bill became a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason, an accomplishment he took great pride in. Although he was not active in local Freemasonry in his later years, he consistently donated to Scottish Rite charities and hospital programs. Partly as a result of his genealogical research into his own family history, he joined and became an active member of the Bernardo de Galvez Chapter No. 1 of the Sons of the American Revolution, where he gave original presentations to the group and supporting its effort to commission a monument to Galvez to be placed at Menard Park in Galveston.

Bill is survived by his son, Andrew (Andy) William Hall and his wife, Rebecca (Becki) Ann, née Hughes, and their daughter Emily Faith; his stepdaughter Faith Einerson, her son Douglas Hazelton and his wife Liz, and their daughters Gabby and Sophie; Suzanne Renee Caillouet and Patrick Michael (Mike) Remore, their children, Adrienne Marie Villarreal and her daughter, Camille Harper George, Eric Cameron Winkler, and Madeleine Rose Remore; Theresa Elaine Caillouet and Jeff Jilg; Michelle Caillouet Bailey (née Michelle Marie Caillouet) and Stephen Anthony Bailey, and their children, James Arthur, Charles (Charlie) Anthony, and John William Bailey; and Charles Christopher (Chris) Caillouet.

Bill was preceded in death by his wife, Jeanne, who passed away on April 20, 2018.

The family was unable to schedule a memorial or remembrance service after Bill passed away but are having a luncheon in his honor at his favorite restaurant, Mario’s Seawall Italian Restaurant, in Galveston from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, on what would have been Bill’s 86th birthday. The family invites all of Bill’s friends to attend, and request guests to bring along a story about Bill, and a hearty appetite.

© 2021 J. Levy & Termini Funeral Home. All Rights Reserved.


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