Sally Drew Hall 1876-1949
THE death of Sally Drew Hall '47h, widow of Edward K. Hall '92, at her Hanover home October 15 deprived Dartmouth of a great and good friend, one whose loss will be keenly felt for years to come. The many interests to which Mrs. Hall gave her time and financial support, even up to the last weeks of her long illness, and which her own modesty kept in the background, are revealed as eloquent tributes to the intelligent and devoted service she gave not only to the College but also to Hanover, the State of New Hampshire and numerous activities farther away.
Always associated with Mr. and Mrs. Hall in Dartmouth history will be their gift of Dick's House, the college infirmary, in memory of their son, Dick Hall '27, who died during his sophomore year. The creation of its homelike atmosphere was a labor of love for the Halls, who expressed the hope "that the boys will come to feel that 'going up to Dick's House' is the next best thing to going to their own homes when they are in need of either the care or the surroundings that the dormitory or fraternity house is unable to furnish." This is a hope that has been fully realized.
Mrs. Hall never lost her spontaneous pleasure in helping to make Dick's House the welcoming, comfortable place it is. When she herself was ill she was still keenly interested in helping in the choice of the new overdrapes and wall paper, which will soon brighten the large guest room and doctors' lounge in Dick's House. With one other helper she undertook the tedious task of checking the books in the library and it was because of this interest that her family requested at the time of her death that books for Dick's House rather than flowers be sent by friends. If a student senses the thoughtfulness of his own mother in the environment of Dick's House, it is largely because it was this quality which Mrs. Hall was able to create, through her own genius for choosing the right furnishings, care and recreations for boys "sick or ailing."
Sally Drew Hall, to whom Dartmouth College awarded the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1947, was born in Lancaster, N. H., on December 19, 1876. She was the daughter of Irving Webster Drew '70, United States Senator from New Hampshire who practiced law for fifty years in the state. She attended St. Mary's School, the Gilman School in Cambridge, and graduated from Radcliffe College, cum laude, in 1901. She married, in 1902, Edward K. Hall '92, who later became Vice President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Cos. Mrs. Hall's life was always closely connected with Dartmouth. In addition to her father and husband, her brother, her sons and her son-in-law were all Dartmouth men.
From 1902 until 1917 the Halls lived in Newtonville, Mass., and from 1917 until 1930 in Montclair, N. J. Throughout her career, Mrs. Hall was active in social and educational work. She had been a trustee of St. Mary's in-the-Mountains; the Neurological Institute of New York City; Children's Hospital, Boston; and Radcliffe College. She was named director of the New Hampshire Children's Aid Society in 1943 and President of the New Hampshire Citizens Council for the General Welfare in 1946. In Montclair she was a member of a committee of three appointed to study total social welfare programs, which resulted in the formation of social agencies. She was also director from 1927 to 1930 of the Montclair Council of Social Agencies. In Hanover she was active in the Mary Hitchcock Hospital drives for funds, the League of Women Voters, British War Relief, and the American Red Cross. For all of these her active work was supplemented by generous giving.
In 1927 Mr. and Mrs. Hall planned and gave to Dartmouth the college infirmary, a gift totaling nearly $300,000. The gift turned one of the College's greatest needs into one of its greatest assets. Connected as Dick's House is with the medical staff of the Hitchcock Clinic, it is known to be one of the best staffed college infirmaries in the country, as well as one of the best equipped and most attractive.
Upon Mr. Hall's retirement in 1930, the family moved to Hanover and after Mr. Hall's death in 1932, Mrs. Hall continued to make her home here. She leaves a son, Edward K. Hall Jr. '34 of Upper Montclair, N. J.; a daughter, Mrs. Laurence G. Leavitt ('25) of Saxtons River, Vt.; and four grandchildren.
HONORARY DEGREE CITATION
President Dickey's citation, when he conferred one of Dartmouth's few honorary degrees to go to women, was a summary of Mrs. Hall's personal and public service:—
"Dartmouth daughter, sister, wife, mother, benefactress and friend, you have added grace and renown to names on whose fame others might well have rested. Student and practitioner of human betterment, your life and works are clear proof that concern for others and effective civic service are but extensions of those capacities of understanding, care, and making common cause which build and bind the family. In recognition of the quality of your public-mindedness and in token of the esteem and affection long accorded you by the Dartmouth fellowship which your family's generosity and your high spirit so uniquely and devotedly serve, I confer upon you the Doctorate of Humane Letters."
It is a consolation to Mrs. Hall's friends as well as a lasting tribute to her own ability and devotion that in her lifetime the purpose of Dick's House has been so fulfilled and strengthened. Expressed in the words of the donors, their hope is now fact:—
The House will richly serve its purposeif it is able to bring some measure of comfort to the boys of Dartmouth when theyneed it most, and if the boundless joy, thegood cheer and the helpful spirit whichfilled the life of the boy whose name itbears may for all time abide and carry onwithin its walls.
MRS. E. K. HALL photographed last spring at a Dartmouth baseball game. With her are her daughter, Dorothy Hall Leavitt, and her son-inlaw, Larry Leavitt '25 of Saxtons River, Vt.
