[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 16, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6863-S6864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GERALDINE TABOR HALL

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I was saddened to learn that Mrs. Geraldine 
Tabor Hall has passed away.
  Gerry, as her friends called her, was the wife of Judge K.K. Hall, or 
K.K. as his friends called him. She was a retired registered nurse, a 
great West Virginian, and a very dear friend. My beloved wife Erma and 
I spent many an evening with the Halls. We would often stay with Gerry 
and Judge Hall when we were in Charleston, and always found her to be a 
most gracious and generous hostess.
  Over the years, Gerry and Erma became particularly close. They 
enjoyed each other's company immensely. Maybe it was because they had 
so much in common.
  Both Gerry and Erma were as elegant as they were ``down home,'' and 
both were perfect partners to their husbands.
  Both had a lot to put up with in their husbands, busy public servants 
whose careers required a great deal from their wives. They were both 
patient, deeply kind, and tremendously devoted to the State of West 
Virginia. Neither ever sought the limelight, but each accepted a 
certain amount of standing in it.
  Both Gerry and Erma were supremely good listeners. Judge K.K. Hall 
could be quite a character. He had a grand sense of humor, and Gerry 
was always sure to laugh at his stories. And when I delivered a speech 
or performed with a good string band back home, Erma listened 
attentively and nodded along. Both women had heard it all time and 
again, but there they were, always with their warm smiles, hearty 
laughs, and steady applause, as if it were the first time.
  Like Erma, Mrs. Hall was a most gracious host. During my long and 
bitter 1982 Senate election, I recall how often she would answer the 
door late at night to find myself and my able assistant during that 
campaign, Jim Huggins, standing on her porch, expecting to spend the 
night in the comfort and shelter of the Hall home. This often occurred 
without warning, and, not infrequently, very late at night. But Gerry

[[Page S6864]]

never complained, never portrayed the slightest annoyance. She not only 
provided us with a place to stay for the night, she cooked a solid 
breakfast for us in the morning, and then would send us on our way to 
our next campaign stop.
  I will miss this lovely and gracious person. But I am sure that she 
and her devoted husband, K.K., are together now. And Erma is there. And 
K.K. is practicing a tale to tell when we are all reunited again. And 
Erma and Gerry will laugh and applaud as if they had never heard it 
before.

                         The Scent of the Roses

                             (Thomas Moore)

     Let fate do her worst,
     There are relics of joy,
     Bright dreams of the past
     That she cannot destroy.
     That come in the nighttime
     Of sorrow and care,
     And bring back the features
     That joy used to wear.

     Long, long be my heart
     With such memories filled,
     Like the vase in which roses
     Have once been distilled;
     You may break, you may shatter
     The vase, if you will,
     But the scent of the roses
     Will hang 'round it still.

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