After 60 years, ‘Bob’ Hall earns GED from RCC
"O’Brien resident walks halls of education after dropping out to marry high school sweetheart
From our weekly issue dated July 01, 2009
Illinois Valley resident R.L. “Bob” Hall has lived most of his 78 years without regret.
Happily married for more than 60 years, he has a total of 75 family members including children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
But last year, Hall had a dream in which he saw a young man graduating from high school. That dream reminded Hall that he never accomplished such a feat, and inspired him to begin getting his General Education Diploma (GED) at Rogue Community College Learning Center in Kerby.
Hall hit the books, and was among the 58 graduates in RCC’s June 13 graduation ceremony at the Redwood Campus in Grants Pass. He was even one of the commencement speakers.
The ceremony represented a long journey for Hall, which began in Hunters, a small town in Eastern Washington state.
Hall attended his first two years of high school there, from 1946 to January 1948, and even fell in love. Then he discovered that his girlfriend’s family was planning to move to California, so he left school to get married.
Even though Hall and his wife, June, were only 16 at the time, he looks back on that particular piece of personal history fondly.
“It was the right decision,” Hall said. “I didn’t want to lose her.”
To support his new bride, Hall began working at a sawmill for $1.10 per hour. That was more than sufficient, he said.
“We could live on it,” Hall said. “My rent was only five dollars.”
By 1949, the Halls had their first child. Three years later, Hall was doing heavy construction work at the dam being built by The Dalles. He continued in construction throughout the West Coast for the subsequent 40 years until retiring in March 1991 at the age of 59.
The Halls had purchased property in O’Brien prior to his retirement, and settled down in the community.
Last year, Hall volunteered for the Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) program, where he read to children at Evergreen Elementary School. Hall said that experience, with support from June, helped inspire him to complete his studies.
“I had time on my hands,” Hall said.
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He started studying for the five GED tests in September, and said he did so for four hours a day, four days a week. He took the tests at the RCC site in Kerby between January and June.
Gray Conway, facility coordinator for RCC’s Illinois Valley Learning Center at the Belt Bldg., said that Hall was a positive influence on everyone he encountered during his studies.
“He was like a breath of fresh air. He set a fine example for all of our students,” Conway said. “His charm and confidence were good for our students to be around, too.”
Hall said that he would be happy if he could inspire just one student to stay in school. Now, Hall is looking at various online programs to further his education even more. He said that he would like to take some writing classes this fall.
“There’s a possibility that I might go for a bachelor’s (degree),” Hall said.
Beyond that, the active lover of life might write a book, something he’s been considering for more than six years. He also has accumulated around 300 poetry works that he might publish.
But even if Hall never does any of those, he said that he at least has the self-satisfaction of having achieved a major life goal.
“It was worth it,” he said. “Every second of it was worth it.”
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