Published: October 10, 2008 11:28 am            

After 60 years of preaching, Reverend Hall is still in high demand

PRINCETON — Goldie Hall laughs when she thinks how attendees of the funerals her husband, Paul, presides over often ask him if he will preach at their funerals when they die. There wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary about such requests, she says, if not for the fact that Paul recently turned 97 years old.

“Even younger people now tell him they want him to preach their funerals,” she said. “Well, how long do they think he’s going to live?”

It’s quite possible that area residents find the man to be timeless. After all, he has preached at local churches and on WAEY 1490 AM for the past 60 years. It seems that a Princeton without the man who estimates that he has presided over thousands of funerals is nearly unimaginable to the many locals who have, at one time or another, come to know Reverend Hall.

“I suppose I’ve conducted probably 4,000 or 4,500 funerals,” he said. “I guess I’m just well-known in the area. A lot of them will say, ‘Brother Hall, when I die, I want you to preach my funeral. I’m just glad that the people think of me. It’s an honor to be with the people and to help them.”

Three years from reaching 100, Paul is still leading a life that seems to have always revolved around helping others. The Mercer County native began preaching in local Baptist churches in 1942, not long after he became a Christian. He retired from pastoring at the end of 2006, but he still conducts funerals and hosts the weekly Gospel Light Hour, a live radio broadcast that airs on WAEY each Sunday afternoon at 1 pm. He has worked with the Princeton station for a total of 55 years.

“It’s a preaching show,” he said. “A lot of people look to that radio service as their church. People who have had strokes or are in wheelchairs or with walkers and can’t get out. I just want for the show to be a blessing and a help to the people.”

One conversation with the sharp-minded preacher proves that, at 97, Paul still has the capability to bring that blessing to his listeners and to those he meets throughout his days. It’s certain that neither he nor Goldie would be guessed at little less than 100 years old. They credit their active lives with keeping them strong to this late point in their lives.

“I have been busy all down through the years,” said Paul. “I’ll be at the hospital visiting someone and my doctor will see me and say, ‘Lord, look at that man.’ He says that’s what has kept me going. I keep moving.”

“He’s been called to the hospital at all hours of the night,” added Goldie. “He’s always been good to visit those in the hospital and at their homes.”

Paul says that it was destiny that led him to begin a preaching career shortly after a co-worker in the coal mine invited him to church and introduced him to the Lord.

“I was just called to do what I’ve done,” he said. “I guess the Lord just used me.”

Preaching has been the lifelong mission of the dedicated reverend, but it was never his only occupation. His working days included 20 years in the coal mines, where he lost a leg in a 1937 mining accident, a job with the Department of Highways, and the Princeton Community Hospital security job that he retired from in 1963. Throughout a life filled with change, the two constants have always been preaching and Goldie. The two will celebrate 76 years of marriage in December.

“Tell her how much you paid the preacher for our wedding,” Goldie told her husband, as she recalled the occasion that took place at the old Princeton Courthouse.

“We paid $2,” explained Paul. “That was big money back then.”

And in a world where more marriages fail than succeed, the couple credits the staying power of their love to a unique type of determination.

“We were determined that he wasn’t going to run me off and I wasn’t going to run him off,” said Goldie.

“We had nothing else to go to,” laughed Paul.

Laughing aside, the couple knows that they have helped one another through many tough times throughout their years together. Two of their three children have died, and Paul, himself, has experienced several health problems. His heart attack that occurred 12 years ago required open-heart surgery and a pacemaker. And, living deep into their 90s has meant seeing the loss of most of their family and friends. Paul mentions many whose funerals he has conducted.

“Most all of our friends are gone now,” he said. “I’ve probably preached about all of their funerals. It’s never bothered me to do that; it just seems that I can relax when I conduct funerals.”

It’s not a job that he takes lightly. He always cuts out the obituaries of those whose funerals he presides over, so that he can refer to them in his preaching. To this day, he keeps cigar boxes filled with the obituaries of every single funeral that he has conducted.

“It makes him feel good that people like him and ask him to do that,” said Goldie.

It makes him feel good, too, to help anyone that he can. He often takes up donations on his radio show for those in need, and gives from his own pocket, as well.

“I’ve tried to help people all down through the years,” he said. “The people have always supported me; the radio broadcast is just a free will offering, and I’ve never been behind or had to beg for money. They support me good, and I appreciate that.”

Another thing that he appreciates is the fact that he still has a strong memory. Both his and Goldie’s eyes light up when they remember the early years of their life together.

“We got married in the Depression,” said Paul. “My income in those days, and I had a wife and two children then, was $14.40 a month. Those were hard times.”

But, they think that today might be an even more difficult time to live.

“It’s a different world we’re living in now from 60 or 70 years ago,” said Goldie. “Everything has changed. There is just so much sin in the world. People don’t care to come shoot you, now. I think we might have another depression, and it’s going to be worse this time.”

From his perspective, Paul believes that a noticeable change in the church has helped to cause many of the changes that he sees in the world today.

“There is a big change in the church world,” he said. “I used to preach revival meetings, and we’d have 100 conversions. They don’t have those meetings anymore…I’ve seen a lot of changes in my time; some have been for the better, and of course, some haven’t. But I’ve met a lot of wonderful people through the years.”

And, people are what the reverend lives for. Goldie says that nothing would keep her husband from continuing to preach funerals or maintaining his work on the Gospel Light Broadcast.

“He just loves it,” she said. “He loves to get out and see the people; he never meets a stranger.”

But while nearly everyone in the Princeton area has come to know Reverend Hall, the popular preacher doesn’t see himself as anything special. Continually, he humbly voices respect for all of the other pastors in the area. And his success, he insists, is not due to his own abilities.

“I don’t feel like I’m one of the big preachers around here; I’m just one of the preachers,” he said. “I’m just what I am by the grace of God.”

— Contact CharLy Markwart at cmarkwart@ptonline.net.

        

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