Betty Hall

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Hall

Beatrice Perin Barker Hall (March 18, 1921 – April 26, 2018) was an American politician from the state of New Hampshire. Hall served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives for a total of 28 years, serving non-consecutively from 1970 until 2008.

Hall grew up in New York City, where she attended Barnard College. In 1948, she and her husband moved to the town of Brookline, New Hampshire, where they started a textile manufacturing firm. Beginning in the 1950s and early 1960s, Hall began participating in local politics, serving on several boards and commissions in Brookline. Hall was elected to the Brookline school board in 1963, and in 1972, she was elected to the town board of selectmen.

Hall's career in statewide politics began in 1970 when she was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives as a member of the Republican Party. In 1986, Hall switched her party affiliation to the Democratic Party, citing the Republican Party's shift towards conservatism during the Reagan Era. During her political career, Hall was described as a firebrand who frequently bucked her party. While a Republican, Hall was seen as a liberal member of that party, and was considered to be a political enemy by conservative leaders. In the Democratic Party, Hall was a member of the grassroots base, challenging the party's establishment in a 2007 campaign for chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

In the 2000s, Hall became nationally known for her activism. In 2004, she was arrested for disorderly conduct for her participation in a protest against President George W. Bush; she was later acquitted of the charge. In 2008, Hall introduced New Hampshire House Resolution 24, which would have petitioned the United States Congress to introduce articles of impeachment against Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for their actions leading to and during the Iraq War. While the bill ultimately failed, it generated a large amount of media coverage.

Early life and education

Beatrice Perin Barker was born on March 18, 1921 in Koblenz, Germany, where her father Joseph Warren Barker, a United States Army officer, served as the administrator of a military district following World War I. After leaving the military, Barker's father completed his education in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving an academic position at the institution. He later became the Dean of Engineering at Columbia University, and she primarily grew up in New York City. This led to Barker's entry into academia, as her father's position at Columbia University brought prominent scientists such as Enrico Fermi and Harold Urey to their home for dinner where Barker would serve as a hostess. In 1937, her mother Mary died when Barker was 16.

Barker attended the Horace Mann School and later studied engineering at Barnard College. Barker would later do graduate work at the University of New Hampshire, Boston University, and the College of the Holy Cross.

Family and career

After graduating from Barnard College in 1943, Barker worked as an engineer at Western Electric. During World War II, she helped manufacture vacuum tubes for radar equipment, and her father served as a special assistant to Frank Knox, the United States Secretary of the Navy.

On May 27, 1944, she married Sidney Leavitt Hall, an engineer from Concord, New Hampshire, leaving her job at Western Electric to join her husband in Ohio, where he was undergoing training with the United States Air Force in order to fight in World War However, the war ended before he was sent overseas, and in 1948, the couple moved to Brookline, New Hampshire, a town of 800 people in Hillsborough County. Hall's grandmother, Florence Hobart Perin, was a resident of Brookline, and Hall had frequently visited and spent several summers in the town during her youth. Sidney Hall initially worked at Textron, and in 1951, the couple started a textile manufacturing firm called Hall Manufacturing Company, which was informally known as Hall Tote Bags. The company produced stitching for dry-cleaners, as well as steam air covers for dry-cleaning machines. Later, the company became locally famous for the tote bags they produced, as well as other stitched products. Hall and her husband were members of the local Church of Christ, and she was credited with uniting the Brookline Methodist and Congregationalist churches into one single church.

In 1957, Hall received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Hall served as the assistant manager for Hall Manufacturing Co. until 1962, whereupon she became a science and mathematics teacher in Groton, Massachusetts. Hall transferred to Fairgrounds Junior High School in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1964, and taught mathematics there until 1972. In 1968, Hall was awarded a grant by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement in order to start an experimental "Mathematics Learning Laboratory" at her school. She had also been invited to academic conferences, such as the Advanced Modern Math Institute, which was sponsored by Science Research Associates.

Sidney Hall died in 1987 at the age of 66. Hall and her husband had 4 sons and 1 daughter. One of their sons, Sidney Hall Jr., is a locally-known author. Following her husband's death, Hall solely ran Hall Manufacturing Co., and the company was featured in a White House symposium on small businesses in 1994. Hall Manufacturing Co. closed in 2001.

Early political career

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Hall#Early_political_career

Party switch and later political career

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Hall#Party_switch_and_later_pol...

Death

Hall died on April 26, 2018 of congestive heart failure in Petersburgh, New York. At the time of her death, Hall had 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren.