JULIA HOPE HALL
Honorary Director OKKPA
( 1910 – 2003 )
Julia Hope Hall was born in rural Kansas on July 3, 1910, the elder child of Will A. and Margaret Irving Hall. Julia’s mother prided herself as a homemaker and brought her new baby to Memphis that same year to join her father who had established the International Sugar Feed Company #2. A younger brother, Ernest, was born on March 27,1916. Grandparents joined the Hall family in Memphis in 1919.
As a child, Julia lived near and attended Lenox School for eight years. In 1923, the Hall family moved to 211 Buena Vista, where she lives today. During her younger years, Union Avenue Baptist Church was Julia’s church home, although the family’s traditional affiliation was Presbyterian. Girl Scouting had already become a central interest in her life by about the age of 14. In Troop ? she had become something of an expert in speedy knot tying and semaphore signaling.
Graduating from Central High School, Julia earned her college degree in physical education in 1931 from George Peabody College in Nashville where she demonstrated special talents for swimming and diving. While a college student in Nashville in 1929, she was impressed by and attracted to the Episcopal service and remains today a loving and loyal communicant at her church home, St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral.
As was the case with Julia and most of her Scout friends, fall, winter and spring seasons were only times to be tolerated, “sentences to be served” until summer arrived and it was time to go to Kamp Kiwani. It was here on the banks of the South Fork and Spring Rivers that the dreams of hiking, swimming canoeing, campfires, handicraft and fellowship with friends truly became a reality.
Not the least of the attractions at Kamp Kiwani was the close proximity of two other camps, the YWCA’s Camp Miramichee and Kamp Kia Kima, the Boy Scout camp. Kia Kima was by far more important to Kamp Kiwani Girl Scout camp for obvious reasons. Joint activities of the three camps included rotating entertainment provided by one of the three for the pleasure of all three on Friday nights and on special occasions such as the 4th of July. Sunday morning “church” for the Y camp and Kiwani, held in the Rec Hall at Miramichee, was an inspirational time made special by the sounds of GVC Falls, birds singing, breezes in the huge overhanging trees, and all the girls in fresh clean clothes, deporting themselves reverently. Those were joyful, thankful times.
The Kamp Kiwani experience for Julia began in about 1924 when she was a camper. Along the way, she earned all of the merit badges required to become an Eagle (Eaglet) Scout, a rank attained only by a few. Becoming a staff member in 1927, her tenure continued until 1933, with staff assignments for waterfront activities including swimming and canoeing, for which she was eminently qualified as a “natural.” Throughout those years, innumerable campers learned to swim in the South Fork River at the GS “swimming hole” above GS Falls, with Julia diligently enforcing the rules of a “Buddy System” designed to not only protect the girls, but also to allow canoeing only after personal proficiency was unquestionably demonstrated.
Near the end of the summer camping season was the annual Mammoth Trip, which could be made by hiking or canoeing. Either way, the training before such a trip was intensive under Julia’s strict supervision. Contrary to current practices, the canoe trip in those days involved going UP the Spring River, paddling, pulling and portaging all the way, then spending two nights at Mammoth Springs in the Nettleton Hotel attic dormitory on army cots. The return trip down the Spring River, shooting 2-Mile Rapids, was again monitored under the watchful eye of Julia Hall. It has been noted that in all the years of Kamp Kiwani’s existence, no camper or staff member was ever injured significantly, a statistic in which there is still great pride.
Julia was honored in the summer of 1934 by attending the Edith Macy Training Camp for Girl Scout Leaders. Along with Lyle Stanage (Soyars) and Edith Dillon (Ayres), she was later employed by the local GS Executive, Mrs. R. J. Lilley, to be “Three Field Captains.” Responsibility assigned to each position included 1/3 of local GS Troops (North, South and East). The work was for one year, two and a half days a week for $35 per month.
As she continued her Girl Scout experience, Julia became the GS Executive in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where she remained for about 3 years, from 1936 until November 1939, culminating her Girl Scout professional activity. In January of 1939, she accepted an association with the YMCA as Teen Program Director. She performed in exemplary fashion, occupying this position until her retirement in 1970.
Directing the YWCA’s Camp Miramichee throughout those 30- plus summers was ideally suited to “Miss Hall’s” talents. She knew the territory like the back of her hand, including every rock in all of the Falls from Hardy Bridge up to Raccoon Springs. She also knew most of the residents and, more importantly, they knew her, thus expediting what needed to be done in response to unexpected demands.
Tradition has a way of continuing. Youngsters who grew up going to Hardy, Miramichee, Kiwani and Kia Kima still remember with great affection and nostalgia, “Miss Hall” and her immeasurable contributions to their lives. In spite of being sightless and living alone, Julia Hope Hall’s indomitable spirit and ability to adapt to adversity, was a lesson and a testament to humility and faith. Her voice remained strong and forceful and never void of opinion; her mental acuity remained superb; her physical ability exceedrd that of many teens; her comprehension of current affairs put many, perhaps most of us to shame. We have much to learn from Julia Hope Hall, age 92.