Tony Hall, my beloved friend

One of my lifelong best friends passed away tonight. He fought valiantly for a little over two years until he finally received peace from his battle with brain cancer. Tony was 36 years old and had a second grade and three year old daughter. His sister has also been one of my best friends for years. I am happy he's gone home, but will miss him greatly until I join him there. Here is a letter I sent to his email address. In case, no one opens his email, I am posting this for others to read. He truly was an inspirational person.



I don't know if anybody will get this email now that Tony is gone. Just in case though, I wanted to share some of my thoughts and some of my favorite memories of Tony with whoever gets into his email if someone does.

The summer I met Tony more than casually was when he taught my grade in Bible class at Robert Paul's week. I was a sophomore at that time. I went to church all the time and read my Bible somewhat frequently. However, in that class Tony scrapped the material and got down to the nitty gritty so to speak. He opened my eyes to my lack of knowledge and faith and gave me a desire to nurture my relationship with my God. Because of this one session of camp this one summer through Tony's class my faith became my own and real and a priority in my life. It became more than politeness and niceties.

The next summer I got in cahoots with Tony and Tim Bills. They were trying to catch the "LuJo Mercenaries" who actually had the gall to steal stuffed animals out of the girls' dorms. Tony took me into his confidence and confessed that it was actually he and Tim who were taking the goods. I became their accomplice and smuggled many items out to them on the DL. The funniest part about it was that they left a note each time they stole something. The created an emblem which later that week or maybe even later that summer they found out was a devil-worshipping cult symbol. Oops! We had a good laugh about the fact that the key players in the church camp staff were using those symbols without a clue.

Another fond memory of Tony I have is the way he took Geoff Parker under his wing. Geoff was a mentally challenged young man who delighted many. Geoff was a central figure in our time at LuJo and made a huge impact on the lives of the campers as well as the staff. I'm so thankful to Tony for allowing Geoff to be a part of our special week.

I will never forget the way Tony would always pretend he heard girls to say their names were "Bertha" when he introduced himself to them. Some of them got a kick out of that (most of them) but some were just plum scared. Either way, eventually they all loved the "Bertha" joke.

I also remember knocking doors with Tony in St. Louis. He was always trying to bring out the strengths in everyone and knew just how to pair them up to do so. He paired me with someone knocking doors and although at first I didn't understand why he made the pair he did, when he explained it to me, I thought it was a genius pairing. I think that year on that amazing and lofty-goaled (yet supremely accomplished) mission trip, I really got to see the deeper sides of both Tony and Phillip. They were so human where as before they had been these almost unreal figures I held on a pedestal. I treasure that week so much and always have.

And oh the band Styx. Every time I hear them on the radio I think of the cassette tapes he brought on our trip to St. Louie. Kelly Woodcock was the only teenage boy who appreciated them or even knew who they were.

Later on when Tony became so ill, he called me one night to talk. In all his strife he wanted to know what was going on in my life. At the time, I had just lost one of my former students who was innocently killed in a gang shooting. I was really struggling though I didn't want to tell Tony because I knew he had his plate full with his own struggles. When I told him I didn't want to even say I had any problems because of what he and his family were going through, he lovingly reprimanded me and told me that everyone's problems are equally as burdensome to them, they just take different forms and he really wanted to hear what was going on with me. I told him through tear-stained eyes and knew that this could be one of the last talks I had with him like that. Although he fought hard and lived well beyond that talk leaving time for several more, that is one I will always hold dear to my heart.

If someone is reading this, please know that I loved Tony as much or more than anyone I can think of. I never had a brother in the secular sense, but Tony was that for me in so many ways. I am striving to be a strong Christian every day largely in part to his early influence on me. These memories I've shared are just the tip of the iceberg. I have numerous memories of talks in the director's cabin with he, Phillip, and the workers (and even Jennifer Curry back in the day), and in the director's office, and many other places in and outside of camp. My prayer now is that we will carry on his torch and strive to avoid dropping the ball on the works he held so dear and the things in which he was so gifted. I am happy he is at peace and has been called home and this provides me with a peace that really does pass understanding. I can't wait to meet him there soon!

Pressing on for the cause of Christ,
Joy