Birthday Thoughts

Today, February 28th, is the 85th anniversary of the birth of my father, Leon Leishman Hall. I have wonderful memories of him. He was confident, but not brash. He had excelled in athletics, especially in his 20's after he got his growth. One year being named the All-Church 3rd baseman in fast pitch softball. He served in WWII, graduated from Utah State where he studied entomology (the study of insects). He taught high school biology in Duchesne, Utah for several years and then accepted a job in California with a mosquito abatement district. Later he became manager of the Fresno Westside Mosquito Abatement district. He loved to camp and hunt and fish. He was an attentive husband and father. He coached several of my Little League baseball teams and encouraged my participation in athletics and in my school work. He had a creative, artistic streak that leaned toward the clever, whimsical and unique rather than the classic style. (He and Mom were a great balance in that way.) He had a maturity and warmth that drew others to him.

He and Mom married in the Logan temple but I get the feeling he wasn't completely active in the Church during his growing up years. (His father was not nearly as faithful as his mother.) But I remember how he was devouring Church books during the years I was old enough to be aware of such things and I remember his deep excitement in preparing a talk he gave on the premortal life just a few weeks before he passed away. He seemed to have a genuine hunger for a deeper understanding of the gospel.

How odd that he only lived to be thirty-six years old. Happy Birthday Dad -