Margaret Hall

Funeral services for Margaret E. Hall will be held at 1:00 p.m., Friday, June 13, 2008 at First Presbyterian Church in Moorcroft with Pastor Donovan Voigt officiating. Burial will follow in Moorcroft Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5:00-8:00 p.m., Thursday, June 12, 2008 at Gillette Memorial Chapel formerly Stevenson-Wilson Funeral Home.Mrs. Hall, age 89, of Moorcroft, Wyoming passed away on Sunday, June 8, 2008 in Conroe, Texas after a short illness. Margaret E. Hall was born on February 8, 1919, the second daughter born to Alexander and Mary (Innes) Archibald on February 8th, 1919 in Sheridan, Wyoming. Her parents emigrated from Scotland and owned a sheep ranch south of Gillette, Wyoming. Margaret graduated from Campbell County High School in 1937 and attended the University of Wyoming from 1939 until 1943 receiving degree in history. She and Marie Hackett, then the head librarian at the George Amos Memorial Library cooked up a scheme for her to receive a master in library science so that Marie could retire. Margaret then boarded a train for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended the Drexel Institute of Technology where she graduated with a master's degree in library science and a new set of friends from "back east". She returned to Gillette and her new job. During that 5-year employment she implemented a few changes to the hushed halls; one being a magazine exchange table for the patrons of the library. Margaret was also introduced to a young manager of the local Red Owl Grocery store, Prentiss G. Hall who she later married on June 27th 1949.They moved to Moorcroft where they built a grocery store and a home. To this union two children were born, Rosemary and Robert. Margaret spent the next 12 years nurturing those children and keeping the home fires burning. She became very active with The American Cancer Society when her sister Edna, died of breast cancer in 1963. She held every office of the Civic and Culture Club and worked hard on their many projects. She was sad when that club disbanded but she was never one to be left behind by ?progress?. She and Prentiss worked for the United States Weather Service for 25 years wherein she was accused many times of making up and guessing at the weather. One memorable moment was when she told Mike Melonuk the Superintendent of Schools that a severe blizzard was coming and Mike sent the country kids home early and the town kids at noon. Fortunately or unfortunately the storm never made it to Moorcroft. She tried not to make many more predictions after that. In 1967, she went to work for the combined town and school library. Margaret spent the next 17 years negotiating for funds, cataloging books, treading the thin line between appropriate reading materials and freedom of speech keeping up with technology as the world went from tape recorders to computers. The last few years at Moorcroft High School she was given the extra curriculum job of coordinating education classes within the community. She retired from the school district in 1984, but kept the Community Education job that was described as part time but quickly turned into 24/7. The first offerings were things like Calligraphy and Beginning Typing but quickly morphed into special interest hobbies and then Associate degrees from Eastern Wyoming College. Margaret believed that education was the key to all and spent the next 20 years helping Moorcroft residents achieve their education goals. In her free time Margaret believed in Moorcroft and helped with the local museum, the local arts counsel, the Chamber and The First Presbyterian Church and any other project that would better Moorcroft. Margaret is survived by one daughter, Rosemary and son-in-law Richard Mead of The Woodlands, Texas; one son, Robert Hall of Denver, Colorado; two granddaughters, Katie and Caroline Hall of Denver Colorado.She was preceded in death by her husband, parents and sisters.Memorials may be suggested to benefit the scholarship fund to promote further education or the First Presbyterian Church. Memorials and condolences may be made in Margaret's name in care of Gillette Memorial Chapel, 210 W. 5th Street, Gillette, Wyoming 82716 or via the internet at www.stevensonwilson.com.