JIM HALL / 1930-2005

Writer, GOP campaigner
‘open-minded’ fount
of knowledge

James V. "Jim" Hall, 74, who campaigned for Republicans from Dwight Eisenhower to Linda Lingle, died Tuesday.

Jim Hall: At 74, he had worked for both the State Department and state Legislature

Hall was born in Plainfield, N.J., and moved to Hawaii in 1962. His career included stints at the Department of State, the U.S. Army, University of Hawaii, City and County of Honolulu and the state Legislature.

Along the way, Hall wrote a novel about the Vietnam War, "To Win the Hearts," served on the 1981 state Reapportionment Commission and completed three terms on the St. Louis-Kapahulu Neighborhood Board.

Rep. Barbara Marumoto (R, Kalani Valley-Diamond Head) said: "Jim was a walking encyclopedia on issues from Southeast Asia to Micronesia to Washington, D.C., during the last 50 years. Though a lifelong Republican, legislators of both parties would seek him out for reliable research and sage advice."

House Speaker Calvin Say, a Democrat, agreed, recalling that Hall was fair and open-minded when Say appeared before his neighborhood board.

When Hall's struggle with bone cancer left him too weak to continue working at the Legislature, his daughter, Sabrina, returned home to help and took over Hall's position with the House GOP research office.

"We loved to go to University of Hawaii basketball games together, and our special thing was to hold up a sign together to cheer for Savo (Predrag Savovic)," Sabrina recalled.

Both father and daughter earned degrees in journalism. "My father always encouraged me, and I found out he constantly praised me behind my back," she said. "I remember when I was 8, he had a poem I wrote about Hawaii published in the Congressional Record,"

Hall is also survived by sons James T. and John V. of Honolulu.

Condolences may be sent to 738 Palani Ave., No. 401, Honolulu 96816.

Services will be held Tuesday at 8 a.m. at the Outrigger Canoe Club, followed by a breakfast. He will be remembered with military honors at 2 p.m. at the Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.