Michael Allen Hall Obituary (1955

Michael Allen "Mike" Hall, 67, of Normal passed away early in the morning on Saturday, January 7, 2023, in hospice at McLean County Nursing Home in Normal. He died peacefully in his sleep, with his wife, Kris, at his side. There will be a private Remembrance of his life for family. Mike was born in Kewanee, IL on June 23, 1955, to Ernest and Marietta Sherbeyn Hall. He graduated from Cambridge High School in Cambridge IL, before receiving an engineering degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign. He married Janis Hopkins on September 19, 1975. He later married Kristin "Kris" Kern on August 2, 1991, in Bloomington. Also surviving are his two sons, Benjamin (Samantha) Hall of Aurora, IL and David Hall of Orlando, Florida, and as well as four siblings, Rita Hall of Galva, IL, Mark (Lucy) Hall of Lansing, Kansas, Christine (Gary) Hancock of Cambridge, IL, Kimberly (Paul) Keenan of Peoria, IL, two grandchildren, Jack Harlingsford Hall and Henry Michael Hall and many nieces and nephews. Mike worked for the Town of Normal for twenty-two years, first as the City Engineer for eight years and then as Director of Public Works for fourteen years before retiring in 2010. He was a member and past president of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers. Mike served as the first ever Administrative Director of the ParkLands Foundation (2012-16) where he managed the business operations of this nonprofit land trust. He combined his love of nature with his strong organizational skills to help professionalize and grow the organization. A man of many interests, pleasures, and hobbies, Mike loved riding his bike through the Illinois cornfields, hiking in the Colorado Rockies, drinking Hurricanes in New Orleans, eating blueberry pie, tinkering in his workshop, slurping Dole Whip at the Magic Kingdom, riding a rocket ship at Space Mountain, swing-dancing, and watching the St. Louis Cardinals. Mike was an enthusiastic landscaper and gardener, and he was very curious about history, from family genealogy to the Civil War. Of his many pursuits, Mike loved most of all traveling with his wife, Kris. They visited all but two of America's National Parks (White Sands and American Samoa). Just before Mike learned he had pancreatic cancer in July of 2022, they drove Route 66 from Illinois to California and back in his cherry red Mustang convertible. Two days before Mike passed, his second grandson, Henry Michael Hall, was born to Ben and Sami. Memorials should be made to the ParkLands Foundation at http://parklandsfoundation.org and the Ecology Action Center of Normal at http://ecologyactioncenter.org