Bill Hall
Life's journey is not to arrive safely at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy Cow... What a ride!"
Life Story
William Headley Hall of Blowing Rock passed away peacefully on Monday, December 2, 2024 at the age of 85. Bill was born January 10, 1939 in High Point, North Carolina. He was the only child of Oscar and Neta Hall. Bill was named after his grandfathers William Pleasant Gordon and Dennis Headley Hall.
Bill had a wonderful childhood growing up on a farm. He was surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins who lived near him on Gordon Road. He spent hours riding his horse Sugar Plum and tending her and her colt Honey Bee. He played cowboys in the nearby woods with cousins and neighborhood friends. He loved Roy Rogers, dogs, train sets, race cars and go karts. Bill was musical. He took piano lessons for many years and played saxophone in a high school band. Both of his parents worked in the furniture business in High Point, and as a boy Bill sold eggs from Oscar's chickens at the annual Furniture Market. High Rock Lake was a favorite destination during the summers, and Bill was an avid boater and water skier. His family traveled extensively, visiting interesting destinations such as New York City, Florida, Nassau and Cuba. These family trips fostered his lifelong love of exploration.
Bill’s early interest in engineering was encouraged by a close family friend, Leroy Briggs Sr. Mr. Briggs owned Briggs Manufacturing Company, which Bill described as a "vertical furniture manufacturing operation". Because Bill's mother Neta was the office manager and bookkeeper, Bill had the run of the place as a boy. Mr. Briggs took Bill on many trips to visit power plants and dams in western North Carolina. Over the years Bill talked about Mr. Briggs often, and said there was no one who had a greater influence on his life. In his late teens Bill got a job at the Greensboro-High Point Airport refueling jets. After graduating from Jamestown High School in 1957, Bill attended North Carolina State College to pursue a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. In 1960 he married his high school sweetheart Patricia Carroll. The couple settled into married student housing where they welcomed their first daughter.
After graduating from N.C. State College, the family moved to Hartsville, South Carolina where Bill began his first career working for Carolina Power & Light Company. During his twelve year career with CP&L, the family moved several times within North Carolina and welcomed another daughter and a son.
In 1974 Bill ended his career with CP&L, having served as plant manager of the H.F. Lee Power Plant in Goldsboro for the final four years. The family moved to Charlotte where Bill began his second career as a sales engineer with Heyward Inc. During this time Bill and Pat traveled for sales meetings and pleasure throughout the United States and Europe. They took their three children Holly, Laurie and David on family trips to Washington, DC, Florida and California. While living in Charlotte and working full time Bill obtained his Master of Business Administration from UNC Charlotte.
Bill was a terrific father and he and Pat did everything possible to make sure Holly, Laurie and David had wonderful childhoods. The family often made trips to the beach or mountains, staying in hotels and later in Oscar’s travel trailer. When they lived in Goldsboro Bill and his children would play softball on Saturdays with the neighborhood kids. Bill was always the pitcher. After Holly started taking piano lessons Bill bought a guitar and took lessons at the community college to learn to play. The family would gather around the piano and sing while Bill played guitar. In 2025 Laurie found some of the songbooks that were used still in the bench of the old piano. These songbooks contained notes that were written by Bill in the 1970s.
Bill did his best to encourage his children to be good and productive citizens. The kids always had assigned household chores during the week and mowing and other yard work on the weekends. Holly and Laurie remembered that even when a friend would spend the night over a weekend they still had to mow or rake the next day and the friend had to help. The kids had a go kart they rode around the neighborhood on the weekends. Every time they got the go kart out Bill made sure the kids checked the oil, greased the chain, etc., teaching them how the go kart worked and how to properly maintain it. Sometimes the family would go on drives in the country on Sundays. Bill would let each of his children sit in his lap and steer the car while he operated the pedals, giving them early lessons on driving.
Bill's interest in real estate began in the mid-1970s when he joined his parents to transform Oscar's Inc. into a holding company for property development and management. 30 rental houses across the farm's 18 acres were built over the next 25 years. Oscar's Inc. owned a furniture manufacturing company called Hawk's Upholstery, which was transformed into a small shopping mall. Bill was the architect, contractor and project manager for all of these properties.
After 20 years Bill retired from Heyward Inc., and in 1995 he and Pat moved to Blowing Rock. Bill began another career in Commercial Real Estate earning the designation of CCIM. Pat passed away in 1996. Following the loss of his high school sweetheart, Bill had the great fortune of meeting Marianne Crumpler.
In 1999 Bill and Marianne married and began another chapter of life together. They established themselves as engaged members of the Blowing Rock community, buying and developing property such as the Village Grove. Bill partnered with Marianne to create a store of English antiques, assisting with travel, bookkeeping and brute strength. Bill served on the Blowing Rock Chamber Board a number of years and was President in 2007. He was involved in the economic development efforts of Blowing Rock during his board tenure. He was actively involved at Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church during that time serving on the Session and Properties Committee.
Bill was a “founding father” of the Middle Fork Greenway and was instrumental in moving that concept forward to become a reality. He helped review engineering ideas and aided in the purchase of property and easements for the proposed trails.
Bill continued to enjoy traveling by air, by train, by motorcycle and with his Air Stream camper affectionately called “Bambi”. He and Marianne enjoyed trips all over the U.S., especially with family members and friends. He fulfilled his 35 year quest of traveling to all 50 states just a few years before his passing. Bill and Marianne visited Ireland, Scotland, England and Nova Scotia.
Bill was a genuine friend to many and made considerable efforts to maintain those friendships over the years. Most years he wrote an annual Christmas letter keeping his nearest and dearest abreast of his family and their activities.
He was a generous, kind soul who remarked many times over the years that he had been given a very blessed life. Those of us who knew and loved him are saddened by his absence but were indeed blessed by his presence. As many have remarked, we lost a good one.
Bill is survived by his wife Marianne, daughter Holly Pritchard and husband Charley of Luling, Texas, daughter Laurie McDowell and husband John of Morehead City, daughter-in-law Kathy Hall of Hillsboro, Oregon and stepdaughter Catherine Scantlin of Boone. He is also survived by his grandchildren William Ian McDowell, Connor McDowell, Emily Rose Hall and Grace Scantlin, and his beloved beagle Sally Bee. He was preceded in death by his parents, first wife Pat and his son William David Hall.
A service of remembrance will be held in Blowing Rock on June 8th, 2025. Please see details below. For those who wish to honor Bill, a donation to the Middle Fork Greenway, P.O. Box 568, Boone, NC 28607 would help further his efforts. https://www.middleforkgreenway.
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When Great Trees Fall
by Maya Angelou
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly
sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance, fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable
ignorance of
dark, cold
caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.
not in good health. My life was certainly better by having Bill as my friend which l already miss often in my thoughts.
Family Tree
Dowell
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Service
1218 Main St, Blowing Rock, NC 28605
A reception will follow the service.
https://rumplechurch.org
2:00pm
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