Deacon Emeritus Attorney John Henry Hall

DEACON EMERITUS-ATTORNEY JOHN HENRY HALL,BS,MS,MS,JD,Ed.D.,LL.M., the husband of the late U.S. Representative Katie Beatrice Green Hall, the author and sponsor of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Law, circa 1983, exchanged time for eternity on Friday, March 20, 2026, after a brief illness at the Methodist Hospital Northlake. He was 93 years of age.

Affectionately known as the “Country Lawyer”, Deacon Emeritus-Attorney Hall was very active in Gary’s political environment of the late 1950’s thru the late 1990’s in the City of Gary, to include strong involvement in the practice of law in the State of Indiana and of course, his beloved Church- the historic Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church, where he faithfully served for sixty-nine (69) years until the time of his death.

Born in the early years of the American Depression on November 7, 1932, to the late Mr. John Hall and Mrs. Icey Mae “Dear” Roundtree Hall, in the rural area located six (6) miles west of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, young John Henry was raised in a loving and religious farm family. As the oldest of eleven (11) children, who survived into adulthood, his childhood was full of fond memories on the “Henry Hall Home Place”, which came into the possession of his dearly beloved grandfather, Mr. Henry Hall at the turn of the 20th century.

As a poor child of the highly racially segregated south, John Henry as he was known to his parents, siblings, and the Mound Bayou community learned the value of hard work as a child by working on the Hall Family’s land, which was maintained by their immediate family. Always a precocious youth, who exhibited advanced intelligence and talents, John Henry would often win Spelling Bee contest at the farm school and be rewarded with bars of soap as a prize given to him by his teacher, Mrs. Ada Smith. In 1949, at the age of sixteen (16), John Henry graduated with his high school Diploma from Mound Bayou High School. This was a major fete for a young African American youth of this time period, because most young boys of this era spent the majority of their time working year-round in the cotton fields in order to help financially support the family household.

Unaware of the new college at Itta Bena- Mississippi Vocational College, which held classes for the first time in the Fall of 1950, John Henry would put his thirst for a college education on a temporary hold in order to help his dad maintain the Family Farm, often called the “Home-Place”.

After moving to St. Louis a few years later to escape the harsh realities of a limited financial future for “people of color” in the State of Mississippi, because of Jim Crow laws in effect in the 1950’s, John Henry would join the United States Air Force on October 23, 1952, with the rank of US Air Force Reg AF. For the first time in his life, John Henry had the opportunity to travel to cities that were not in compliance with the Jim Crow laws of the Southern United States- Alaska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and other New England States.

Honorably discharged on May 6, 1957, John Henry returned to the State of Mississippi in light of his father’s illness. Several months later, on a warm summer evening, John Henry went with his brother, Calzona to a local Grill in the town center for a meal of hamburgers and Coca Cola sodas. At the restaurant, there was a beautiful Mississippi Vocational College sophomore, who immediately drew his attention- Katie Beatrice Green. John Henry and Katie Beatrice began courting and would eventually marry a short time later on August 15, 1957, in the county seat of Cleveland, Mississippi. This marital union produced two (2) daughters, Jacqueline “Jackie” Demetrius on August 12, 1958, and Junifer Detrice Hall on March 12, 1961.

Upon marrying in 1957, John Henry moved to Gary, Indiana and his bride Katie Beatrice returned to college to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science with a concentration in U.S. History and American Government and Economics. The City of Gary was an obvious choice for John Henry, due to the fact that his great aunt, Mrs. Lou Jane Hall Preston, the Founder of First AME Church had relocated from Chicago to Gary in 1908. Soon thereafter, other members of The Hall Family followed from the State of Mississippi during the Great Migration seeking better paying jobs and economic opportunities that had opened up in Northern cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and so on. Another prominent Hall Family member, who had migrated to Gary a few short years after Aunt Lou Jane Hall Preston was Aunt Mrs. Birdie Hall Rankin, who along with her husband Rev. Raymond Rankin, along with couples founded First Baptist Church. Both First AME and First Baptist Churches are still in existence at the present time.

In search of a “Church home”, while living at the residence of his cousin, Mrs. Beaulah Rankin Dixon near the corner of 26th and Monroe Street in Gary- John Henry on a hot Sunday morning heard the sound of chimes ringing from an unknown location. He decided to follow this melodic sound, which eventually would lead him to Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church at 2585 Van Buren Street, a few blocks away from Mrs. Dixon’s home. John Henry joined this Church in the late summer of 1957 and remained a faithful “Soldier of God” for sixty-nine (69) years.

Over the many years of Deacon Emeritus- Attorney Hall’s religious service at Van Buren- he served as a Boy Scout leader; Deacon; Chairman of the Deacon Board Ministry; President of the Senior Usher Board, Church Attorney; President, Van Buren Travel Club; Adult Sunday School Teacher; member, Van Buren United Male Chorus Boosters and Sweethearts Ministry; member of the Jail Ministry, Chairman and Founder of Van Buren’s Black History Programs, and a writer and producer of Van Buren’s African-American History skits- his most popular production was entitled, “The Dark Side of The Mountain”. Undoubtedly, the proudest moment of his leadership and membership at Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church was hosting civil rights icon, Rosa L. Parks at his beloved Church in January 1989. Deacon-Hall and his wife Katie would in later years host Mrs. Linda Brown Buckner, the plaintiff in the famous U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, amongst other notable persons. This case outlawed the legal concept of “Separate But Equal” in public education.

Katie Beatrice graduated from Mississippi Vocational College now known as Mississippi Valley State University in May 1960; and she permanently joined John Henry in the “City by the Lake”. The City of Gary of the early 1960’s were difficult years for the young couple with two (2) small children in light of the racial discrimination in existence in employment and housing opportunities. John Henry and Katie Beatrice where of the mind-set that the days of racial discrimination were left behind in Mississippi. However, they were severely mistaken when they found Gary’s racial problems were no different than in the State of Mississippi.

After getting settled in the City of Gary, John Henry became one of the first ardent supporters of then City Councilman Richard Gordon Hatcher’s campaign to seek the Mayoral leadership in John Henry’s adopted “hometown”. With Mayor Hatcher’s 1967 victory, John Henry, along with Katie became very interested in the political process.

John Henry began his career as a laborer at U.S. Reduction Steel Mill in East Chicago, Indiana, where he worked long hours to support his family and purchase a new home in the Means Manor neighborhood of Gary. In the late 1960’s, John Henry resigned from the dirty job at the of the Steel mill, where he rose to the rank of Foreman. The first African American to do so at U.S. Reduction Steel Mill.

In 1970, John Henry would obtain his first academic college degree from Indiana University Northwest- a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. This success in academic education inspired John Henry to eventually pursue five other academic degrees- two (2) Master degrees in Education from Indiana University Northwest, a Juris Doctorate from Southland University; a Doctorate of Education from Loyola University in Chicago; and a Master of Laws from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago for a total of six (6) academic degrees obtained throughout his academic career.

John Henry began his professional career in the Gary Community School Corporation in 1970 after graduation. His first Social Studies teaching assignment was at the newly integrated Lew Wallace Senior High School. In light of this position, John Henry became the first African-American to teach U.S. History and Black Studies at this venue. He would later rise to become a Dean of Students and an Assistant Principal at various schools in the Gary Community School District, where he founded the “Junior Attorneys Club” and the Travel Club at Bailey Middle School and Tolleston Junior High School.

During the early to middle 1970’s, John Henry would satisfy his thirst for knowledge by securing two (2) master's degrees. In order to pursue his life-long dream of becoming a lawyer, John Henry began taking law classes in the day and evening hours. In 1983, he was admitted to the Indiana State Bar, where he would practice law full time for over forty (40) years until his health began to fail. Now known professionally as Attorney Hall- his area of expertise were Wills, Estate Administration, Landlord and Tenant Law, and Contract Law. It was during the early 1980’s that Attorney Hall begin teaching on the university level in the Minority Studies Department as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Northwest. He taught the course, “The Black Community and Social Change”, which highlighted the great Kings of Africa and their civilizations to the origins of slavery in the Americas, especially the United States of America until the post- Civil Rights era.

Meanwhile, Deacon-Attorney Hall supported the political ambitions of Katie, who became the first African American woman from Northwest Indiana elected to the Indiana House of Representatives, the first African American woman from Northwest elected to the Indiana Senate, and the first African American- male or female elected to the U.S. Congress from the State of Indiana. On November 2, 1983, U.S. Representative Katie Hall authored and sponsored the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Law, which is observed on the third Monday in January since 1986, by millions of Americans, and persons of goodwill around the world.

After officially entering the legal arena in 1983, subsequently Deacon-Attorney Hall decided to pursue and successfully graduated with a Doctor of Education in Secondary School Administration. However, he was not quite done with his academic training. In 2002, Attorney Hall at the tender age of seventy (70) years received the Master of Laws degree (LL.M.).

Since his youth, Deacon-Attorney Hall leaned his philosophical beliefs toward supporting African American entrepreneurial ownership. These were examples set in his youth by his grandfather Henry Hall, the distributor of Hall’s Tea and his father, John Hall, the owner of over 120 acres of rich Mississippi Delta farmland six (6) miles west of Mound Bayou. As a result of these humble teachings- Deacon-Attorney Hall established Hall Legal Services and later the Law Office of John Henry Hall, Ed.D.,LL.M.

Throughout the life and times of Deacon-Attorney Hall- he was an active participant in numerous organizations locally and nationally most notably Life Member of the Gary Branch- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Vice-President, Andrew Means’ 19th-21st and Madison Street Block Club; member, Urban League of NW Indiana, First President of the Gary Historical and Cultural Society; member, Indiana State Bar Association, and member, National Bar Association, amongst other community and service organizations.

In his spare time, Deacon-Attorney Hall secured a United States patent for an invention developed by his brother, Rev. Arizona Hall, Sr. commonly known as the “Flip Top” for trucks. In pursuit of other creative ventures, Deacon-Attorney Hall wrote more than 100 songs and sought and received copyright protection for over fifteen (15) book titles, with his favorite titles being, “Little Johnnie Roundtree”, “The Mouse Trap”, “Sweetie-Pie” and “The Country Lawyer and the Congresswoman”. An avid traveler, Deacon-Attorney Hall has visited all fifty (50) States, Western Europe, China, the Caribbean, South America, and Canada.

On February 20, 2012, after fifty-five (55) years of marriage to his dearly betrothed Katie Beatrice Green Hall, Deacon-Hall became widowed. As a means of continuing the legacy of public service of U.S. Representative Katie Hall (D-IN-1), Deacon-Attorney Hall, along with his daughter, Junifer founded the Katie Hall Educational Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. Since 2013, the Foundation has given the Annual Katie Hall Public Service Awards to local, state, national, and international public servants. Also, the Foundation through its Harriet Tubman Essay Contest and Attorney Charles Hamilton Houston Essay Contest has presented Certificates of Achievement and Certificates of Excellence to thousands of elementary, junior high, and high school seniors.

In April 2015, the Foundation created the “U.S. Representative Katie Hall” postcards, a popular brand and subsequently have hosted other programming regarding “How the Dr. MLK, Jr. Bill Became Federal Law In The United States of America". Deacon-Attorney Hall’s favorite Katie Hall Educational Foundation, Inc. event was the pilgrimage to the Lincoln Tomb, where he loved to recite, U.S. President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to audience participants.

As he approached his 90th birthday, which was celebrated on November 7, 2022, Deacon-Attorney Hall became more involved and innovative with the design and production of his favorite Projects- the “Speedy Law International Love Pin”; the “Deacon-Attorney John Henry Love and Peace Garden” on the grounds of the “Katie Hall House” at 1937 Madison Street in Gary; the creative development of the Super hero cartoon character, “Intelligence”; and his lead role as “U.S. President Ronald Reagan” in the animation short reel, “U.S. Representative Katie Hall:Dr. MLK, Jr. Day”, which has been widely shown in the City of Gary.

On Sunday, January 29, 2023, Rev.- Dr. Dwight E. Mobley, Sr., Pastor and Teacher at Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church elevated Deacon-Attorney Hall to Emeritus status as a result of his many years of “Deacon Service” at this historical Church during the 11am Worship Service. Deacon Emeritus-Attorney Hall was so very proud to have been bestowed this honor after over sixty-five (65) years of religious service to Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church.

The year 2025, would commence and end with health challenges for Deacon Emeritus-Attorney Hall. However, he remained dedicated, devoted, loyal, and steadfast in his resolve to remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ by “Loving Thy Neighbor As Thyself”. A firm believer in support of the biblical teachings of The Book of Haggar, which instructs us to prioritize the restoration of God’s house over our own house. Deacon Emeritus-Attorney Hall exclusively paid for the reinstallation of the chimes at Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church. Chimes first heard in August 1957, by John Henry Hall, a young man of twenty-four (24) years of age, newly minted in the City of Gary from the racially segregated Mississippi Delta, who rose to become known as the “Country Lawyer”.

Deacon Emeritus- Attorney John Henry Hall,BS,MS,MS,JD,Ed.D.,LL.M. exchanged time for eternity on Friday, March 20, 2026, at 7:03PM. He is preceded in his death by his dear wife, Katie Beatrice Green Hall; parents: Mr. John Hall and Mrs. Icey Mae Roundtree Hall; brothers: Willie Lee Hall, Sr., David “Red” Hall, Sr., George Hall, and Emerson Hall; and sister Lula Mae Hall Juneriack.

Deacon Emeritus- Attorney John Henry Hall,BS,MS,MS,JD,Ed.D.,LL.M. is survived by his two (2) daughters: Jacqueline Demetrius Hall,MPA,JD and Junifer Detrice Hall,JD,MPA,MBA; granddaughter: Kristina Nicole Harris,BA,MS of London, England, United Kingdom; brothers: Mr. Arizona Hall, Sr. of St. Louis, Missouri and Mr. Calzona Jeffro Hall, Sr. of Fort Myers, Florida; sisters: Mrs. Dorothy Mae Hall Norwood and Mrs. Beatrice Hall Smith of Mound Bayou, Mississippi.

Visitation is scheduled for Friday, March 27, 2026, at Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church, 2585 Van Buren Street, Gary, Indiana, 46407, 12:00PM-8:00PM, Family Hour is from 6:00PM-8:00PM.

Funeral Service scheduled for Saturday, March 28, 2026, at Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church, Visitation 9:00AM-10:45AM, Funeral Service at 11:00AM. Rev. Dwight E. Mobley, Sr., Pastor/Teacher, Officiant.

Mississippi Funeral Services: Friday, April 3, 2026, First Baptist Church, 301 N W Main Ave, Mound Bayou, MS 38762
Visitation 10:00AM-11:00AM, Funeral Service:11:00AM-12:00PM

Interment: The Hall Family Cemetery, 157 Henry Hall Road, Mound Bayou, Mississippi, 38762