Albert Brown Hall, III
Albert Brown Hall, III passed away peacefully on December 8, just days after his 83rd birthday. Albert lived a full, adventurous life and will be dearly missed.
Born December 2, 1942 to Albert B. Hall, Jr. (U.S.N.) and Virginia Davis Hall, Albert was the eldest of four children in a Navy family from Dallas, TX. He tragically lost his father in a plane crash on Vancouver Island during a naval training exercise in November 1948 while the family was living at Whidbey Naval Air Station in Washington State, sparking his lifelong fascination with and love of the Pacific Northwest. Upon the loss of her husband, his mother moved the family back to Dallas, TX, where she raised four children on her own. At a young age, Albert contracted the polio virus, leading to hospitalization in an isolation ward and life-long Post-Polio Syndrome.
A graduate of Highland Park High School, Texas Technical College (BA, Architecture) and University of Texas at Dallas (MS, Environmental Science), Albert was a lifelong student of history and architecture; he was especially knowledgeable about the history of the American Revolution. He was a member of Sons of the American Revolution and traced his ancestry back to the 1500s. A voracious reader, Albert leaves behind a rich library of which he was immensely proud. Following graduation from Texas Tech, Albert joined the Peace Corps providing architecture services in Ankara, Turkey, and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, before joining the Navy as a commanding officer in the Civil Engineer Corps. He was first stationed in the US before doing a 2-year stint in Saigon during the Vietnam War. He subsequently served in the Navy Reserve, retiring as Commander.
Albert’s career as a commercial architect led him to start his own design and construction company, Hall & Nelms, Inc., in Dallas in the 1980s where he was both architect and general contractor. He was always very proud of the uniqueness of that combination. But his greatest adventure took him back to the Pacific Northwest to the San Juan Islands where he moved with his wife and young daughter in 1992 to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a yacht. He joined the San Juan Island Yacht Club and the family spent many happy years cruising in his boats throughout the waters of the Pacific Northwest. They spent two years living aboard a 50’ power boat before settling into their current home in 1994 that Albert completely redesigned in 2009 to better host chamber music “recitals” featuring musicians from all over the world, another lifelong dream. Since 2012, Albert and Margaret have hosted over 100 invitation-only concerts. Albert loved nothing more than listening to classical music in the sunny great room he designed and built.
Albert was preceded in death by his parents, Albert and Virginia Hall, and brother, Peter Hall. He is survived by his siblings: brother, Bruce and wife Dianne, and sister, Anne and husband Bruce; his cherished wife, Margaret; daughters, Catherine and Kimbell; son-in-law, Matthew; and adored grandchildren, Cameron and Sloane.