In a time past, before TV, Twitter, Texting, Facebook,
YouTube, the Internet, cell phones, e-mail, video games,
and in your ear and face walk-around music and hand held
devices, people actually went out and did stuff, entertained,
went to church, visited and connected - in person.
Shown is live entertainment in the 1950s at Grantsville's long-
gone Kanawha Theater: (L to R) Mike Williams, Grantsville
barber, now deceased; Tim Hall at drums, now deceased;
Dave Howell, a Wood County barber; Dr. Lewis "Buck"
Ferrell, a Doctor of Divinity at the mic, now deceased;
and Dr. Bill Barnes, physician and surgeon, now deceased.
By Bob Weaver 2022
Calhoun native Timothy W. Hall, 83, has died in Lakeland, Florida.
Born at Sand Ridge, he was the son of Calhoun teachers Kenneth and Martha Hall, he graduated from Calhoun County High School in 1957.
Tim was the first music aficionado I met, collected jazz records in the 1950s, jazz being certainly beyond my pale. He had many interests besides music, and gave art appreciation a run for its life.
I remember clearly after graduating from high school, he and my friend Lewis "Buck" Ferrell (who later obtained a Doctorate in Divinity) had jobs for DuPont, giving them cash to burn. He called me up on the old grapevine phone, saying he was coming to pick me up in the Village of Hur.
It was my first experience riding in an open-top MG sports car, traveling for miles into neighboring counties, the wind beneath our wings.
We had frequent visits to his house on Sand Ridge, which had a sound and music room, its volumes turned high, with rock and roll arriving across the horizon. Perhaps, such loud music was what caused him to become deaf in later years.
Sometime before high school graduation, Tim and Mike Williams decided to take a road trip to Hollywood, Tim calling me up to buy some stuff from him to finance the excursion. I bought a few things.
Tim and Mike loaded up the old car, stuff tied on top, and left the Calhoun backwoods for Hollywood's bright lights. I think they broke down near Charleston, along the Elk River, their dream crushed.
Needless to say, I could write a small book about Tim's life and times, but my favorite story about him was during my short lived radio career, coming back to Spencer in 1962 to help put the radio station on the air (WSPZ-WVRC).
Years ago I wrote this story about the event:
"Perhaps the real reason for ending my radio career was a joke told on the air by my long time Calhoun friend Tim Hall, who was visiting me in the control room one night.
Mentioned earlier, the power dropped to 250 watts at night and at times it was doubtful if anyone was listening. In between songs, Tim and I chatted about UFOs and other strange phenomenon.
Out of the blue, Tim started telling a story about a flying saucer landing on earth.
The saucer landed at a filling station and a strange little alien got out and ambled up to a gas pump, saying "Take me to your leader."
Getting no response, the space critter repeated to the pump, "Take me to your leader."
The alien got madder and madder at the silence, Tim said, after which the critter exclaimed, "Are you going to stand there all night with your d--k in your ear, or are you going to take me to your leader?"
One of the two or three listeners was the station owner's wife."
His obituary says, "Tim enjoyed traveling and was a musician and artist all his life — always believing in the joy that creativity could bring to a family. He was a huge supporter of creativity in his children’s lives. He loved drum circles, Latin Jazz, West Virginia mountains and the Florida sun."
Rest high on your mountain, Tim.
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