Ronald C Hall

Ronald Clark Hall, age 80, passed away January 21, 2023 after a recent illness and hospitalization, with his wife Darlene at his side.

Ron was born September 21, 1942 in Council Bluffs, Iowa to Horace Calvin and Neoma G. (Carlsen) Hall.  Ron spent his early years in Iowa towns where his dad had business locations as an oil and gas distributor, and he graduated from Harlan (Iowa) High School in 1961.  After completing a year of pre-pharmacy courses at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri, Ron was admitted to the School of Pharmacy of the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  He graduated from UMKC with a B.S. in Pharmacy in 1966, and passed state pharmacy board licensing examinations in Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas.   He was later also licensed in Vermont.

Ron’s friends in pharmacy school remember a student with a penchant for detail, always having something in his notes that others missed, and always willing to join in study groups.  His friends in the dorm never missed an evening meal because Ron was up and down the hall reminding them that the cafeteria was open.  He wasn’t always up for breakfast.  After two years of dorm life, Ron moved to an apartment with Kappa Psi Pharmacy Fraternity friends, which was less expensive and allowed a little more social activity.

Ron was always a late-night person.  He liked to stay up at night studying or pursuing other interests, especially on weekends, and would sleep late in the morning.  But he was always on time for classes.  His friends remember the beginnings of what was a lifelong love of having a nice car, starting with that restored green 1952 Chevy and the white 1963 Chevy Malibu convertible.  After discharge from the Army there was a new early 1970s era green Corvette, and later, as a family car, an Oldsmobile Toronado.

Ron worked briefly in Woodbine, Iowa after graduation while waiting for the expected letter from Uncle Sam, and made the first of a number of annual Thanksgiving visits to central Missouri.  When the letter came Ron willingly served two years with the U.S. Army, including a tour in Viet Nam as a field hospital pharmacist in the Medical Corps.  After completing his service obligation on the east coast, he worked briefly again in Woodbine, and then in Rutland, Vermont, after his mother died in 1969.

Returning to the Midwest in 1974 to be closer to family and friends, one of the most significant jobs of Ron’s career was opening a new Gibson’s Pharmacy in Maryville, Missouri.  That’s because it was here that Darlene Elliot, a NMSU student from Kansas City, took a Christmas vacation job.  Their co-workers decided Darlene and Ron should go out, and that first date was memorable not only for the movie, but for the beginning of a relationship that would last almost forty-nine years.

After Ron started a new job in Newton, Kansas, there were regular weekend commutes to Kansas City to see Darlene, who was making weekend commutes from her job in the Maryville area.  This finally resulted in marriage in May 1978 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and a permanent move to Newton.

During the next forty-five years Ron worked in retail pharmacy, Darlene completed her Master’s degree and taught special education, and they raised two sons.  After moving to Newton, Ron worked at Wilson’s Drug Store and Bethal Pharmacy for nearly twenty years, then traveled and worked as a relief pharmacist in Missouri and Kansas until he retired.  Ron’s colleagues in pharmacy and medicine, and his patients, have appreciated his knowledge of drugs and his willingness to help his patients with health care issues.  He had a long-time working relationship with his personal physician, in part related to his health issues.

Ron was an avid model railroader, belonging to an active club in Wichita and traveling with friends occasionally to conventions in other states.  He collected brass locomotives and built kits with additional fine detail to the locomotives, cars, buildings, and scenery.  For years there always seemed to be a kit in progress on the kitchen table.  And there were always plans for that big layout someday.

He stayed in contact with family, and with friends from Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, and Missouri.  When Stephan and Sean were younger there were family trips to Colorado, Canada, and New England.  Even a visit to central Missouri, reminiscent of those early Thanksgiving trips.  In recent years Ron has continued a close relationship with both of his sons.  He and Stephan enjoyed surfing the Internet and having late night discussions about their discoveries.  Sean came to the house daily to watch the news with Ron, help with a computer problem, or just to talk.

Ron was preceded in death by his parents.  He is survived by his wife Darlene of the home, two sons Kenner Stephan Hall and Sean David Hall of Newton, many cousins, and his beloved dogs and cats.

A celebration of life will be held at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 2001 Windsor Drive in

Newton, Kansas on Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.  In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts

may be given to Harvey County Humane Society and K9s for Warriors, providing service dogs from rescue shelters to veterans, in care of Petersen Family Funeral Home.