CHARLES MAURICE HALL

HALL, CHARLES MAURICE
Lt. General (Ret), U.S. Army
Charles M. Hall, age 91, passed away March 4, 2016 of cardiac failure at North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Lucien Hall and Jewel Key Hall on October 5, 1924 while his father was stationed there with the U.S. Marines. Much of his childhood was spent in Texas, Louisiana and California.
Charlie graduated from the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) in 1946. He then completed the Field Artillery Course at Ft. Sill, OK and joined the 11th Airborne Division in post-war Japan. Following his return to the U.S., he married Lolita Irene Bartel on June 1, 1949 in San Francisco, CA. His wartime experience included a deployment to Korea in 1950 with the 187th Airborne Combat Team, where he twice parachuted into combat zones. He also served two tours (1965-66 and 1969-70) during the Vietnam War, during which time he was promoted to Brigadier General.
During his 35 years of service, Charlie and Lolita and their five children moved 33 times as he was assigned to locations including Ft. Campbell, KY, Colorado Springs, CO, Norfolk, VA, Newport, RI, Fairbanks, AK, Stuttgart, Germany, MacDill AFB, FL, Ft. McPherson, GA, and The Presidio, San Francisco. While assigned to the Pentagon in Washington DC, he completed his Master of Science degree in International Relations. His military career began as a Second Lieutenant of Artillery and culminated as the Commanding General for the Sixth U.S. Army, with responsibility for more than 120,000 individuals in 1400 units throughout fifteen western states. After retiring from the Army in August 1981, Charlie worked for the Hoffman Company for ten years as Project Manager of Discovery Bay, a development of several thousand homes near Byron, CA.
Charlie and Lolita moved to Gainesville in 1995 where he enjoyed playing golf and fishing at his lake house on Lake Como. They continued to travel together, not only visiting relatives on the West Coast, but also exploring new countries, going as far as St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. In his last five years, Charlie volunteered over 4,000 hours as a docent at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, and traveled with his sons and grandsons on two major RV trips, one to California and Oregon and one to Fargo, ND.
Charlie was preceded in death by Lolita, his wife of 62 years. He is survived by his brother, Dwaine (Betty) Hall of Los Altos, CA, his three daughters Candace (Charles) Fellows of Gainesville, Barbara Jugo of Redwood City, CA, and Nancy (Michael) Fales of Santa Clara, CA, and his two sons Michael (Lorrie) Hall of Medford, OR and Bruce Hall of Mountain View, CA. His eight grandchildren, Matthew and Kristen Fellows, Jessica and Luke Hall, Andrew Skelton and Jenna Jugo, and Benjamin and Leah Fales will all remember him with love. Charlie was particularly proud of his grandchildren's academic achievements, including five Bachelor degrees, one Masters degree, two PhDs, one in college and two still in high school.
Charlie was gregarious and well liked by those who knew him. Many people were entertained by the stories he told of his interesting life, including those involving breaking his leg playing soccer at West Point, his 257 parachute jumps, the dangers of frostbite in Alaska, hunting for food during the Korean War, and learning to fly helicopters while flying to his Artillery units in Vietnam.
A private memorial service is planned for his internment in California. Charlie believed in being charitable, supporting many organizations, including the Wounded Warrior Foundation, Disabled American Veterans, the American Heart Association, the March of Dimes, and the National Foundation for Cancer Research. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent in his name to any of these organizations or any other worthwhile endeavor.