Hall: Staying busy eases grief

Local News

Discussion

October 21, 2009

Kevin Hall The Moultrie Observer Wed Oct 21, 2009, 10:16 PM EDT

MOULTRIE — Yolanda Hall is surviving, 20 months after a double tragedy that reshaped her world.

Hall’s son, Jakira Strong, died from a gunshot wound on New Year’s Eve 2007. The man who took him to the hospital, Curtis Anthony Aldridge, was later charged with murder in his death, and five others were charged with tampering with evidence for trying to clean up the scene.

Strong’s death was too much for Hall’s mother, Eunice Hall, who’d been suffering from congestive heart failure. She had already lived two years under Hospice care.

“After that night she never said anything else,” Yolanda Hall remembered Wednesday. “She just went into a deep sleep, a coma.”

Strong, 21, was buried Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008; his 85-year-old grandmother exactly one week later.

Hall said the nurses offered her medication to help her through the agonizing time, but she declined. Instead she turned to prayer, and it helped her cope.

The deaths left Hall’s hands full. Not only did she have her own grief, she had to help her father through his. Charlie Hall, 87, had been married to Eunice for 60-some years.

Hall held things together, one day at a time, but the pressure mounted.

“Out of the blue sky I decided I needed to do something,” she said. “I registered at Brewton-Parker.”

Brewton-Parker College, a private college based in Mount Vernon, offers evening classes at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Norman Park. Hall, who holds a two-year degree in marketing management from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, is pursuing an early childhood education degree. She said she hopes to have her classes finished in another two years, and she’d like to begin student teaching next fall.

Hall’s solution to grief is to stay busy. In addition to caring for her father and attending classes, she mentors a second grader at Stringfellow Elementary School, and she has another son to raise. Quentin Hall, 14, is a ninth grader at C.A. Gray Junior High School. His mother proudly stated he’s been on academic honor roll “forever.” A Future Farmers of America member, he’s been at Sunbelt Expo this week, helping at the FFA booth.

Hall has set herself one more goal too: Keeping her mother’s memory alive through cooking.

Charlie and Eunice Hall’s house was full of family, Yolanda Hall said. She was one of eight siblings — two are now deceased — and all but two had children. All of the youngsters lived close to their grandparents, so family would come visit “every weekend, every holiday,” Hall said. And food, of course, was a centerpiece of the occasion.

With a white binder of Eunice Hall’s recipes, Yolanda Hall tries to cook just like her mother did. Her favorite is the sweet potato pie, she said with a laugh.

“I love making the brunswick stew,” she said. “There’s a lot of work in it, but it’s good!”

Hall preferred not to reveal the family recipe (at least not yet), but the brunswick stew is made the old-fashioned way: with hogs’ heads in an outdoor kettle. She is giving thought to publishing the recipes in a cookbook.

Text Only

Local News

Bingo Bash 2012
February 3, 2012 1 Photo
Former Moultrian falls to his death
A former Moultrian died Wednesday night after being pushed from a second-story walkway at his apartment complex in Bellingham, Wash., the previous day.

February 3, 2012
Convicted burglar sentenced to 14 years in prison
A man convicted in December on burglary and theft charges was sentenced Friday to a 14-year prison sentence.

February 3, 2012
Fires damage two homes
Stove fires damaged two homes this week, but no injuries were reported in either incident, Moultrie Fire Department reports said.

February 3, 2012
C.A. Gray Technology Fair winners
February 3, 2012 1 Photo
Drug charge added when police arrest theft suspect
A Meigs man charged with theft faces additional charges as suspected marijuana was found on him at the time of his arrest, Moultrie Police Department reports said.

February 3, 2012
CORRECTION: DUI charge
In a Jan. 28 report, The Observer said Ronald Craig Bass, 50, 4411 Dunn Road, Hartsfield, was charged Jan. 26 with driving under the influence, open container violation and probation violation in connection with a minor wreck on Camilla Highway. Excluding the probation violation charge, that information came from a Moultrie police report of a November 2001 incident.
Bass was charged with probation violation Thursday because all the penalties from the 2001 incident had not been paid. He paid the remaining penalties following his arrest, according to a Moultrie police report.
The Observer regrets the error.

February 3, 2012
Peanut Commission Research Report Day will be Feb. 8
The Georgia Peanut Commission will hold the annual Research Report Day Wednesday, Feb. 8, beginning at 9 a.m. at the National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL), located on the University of Georgia Tifton campus. The event provides growers and industry representatives an opportunity to hear the latest reports on research projects funded by GPC in 2011.

February 3, 2012
Boy Scouts help the needy with Scouting for Food program
Scouts of the Suwannee River Area Council, Boy Scouts of America will be collecting food today to help the hungry in the council’s 13-county service area, which includes Colquitt County.

February 3, 2012
Jury duty
February 3, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Should candidates for county positions have to run for a party's nomination?

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Hall: Staying busy eases grief

Should candidates for county positions have to run for a party's nomination?

Site Map

Contact Us