Jennings Hall

Jennings Jackson “Jack” Hall, 93, of Asheville, NC ascended to heaven surrounded by loved ones on June 14th, 2022, after a difficult, but pain free, battle with leukemia and dementia.

Jack was born on April 22nd, 1929, to Joseph Lane Hall and Violet Roberta Brown Hall in the family home in Asheville, NC. After graduating from Lee H. Edwards High School, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1950, serving his country with distinction in cryptology.

After serving four years, Jack was honorably discharged in 1954 after extensive traveling, and returned home to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of his birth, where he began employment at the Imperial and Plaza movie theaters. Later, always the entrepreneur, Jack learned the optical trade from Warren Fluharty, Sr. and worked for many years as the primary optician for Earl Sunderhaus, M.D., and Joseph Schandler, O.D. Many children from the 1970s through the 1990s in Asheville wore glasses fitted by our dad.

In 1959, Jack fell in love and married his high school sweetheart, Catherine Angules Sentz, and had two children, William Lane Hall, December 25th, 1968, and Linda Roberta Hall, October 23rd, 1973.

Jack was a force of nature, determined to provide for his family and give them the life he felt they deserved. His family meant more to him than anything else in the world, he often reminisced about to the end of his days. During his marriage, Jack would introduce his wife and children to the beauty surrounding them in Western North Carolina and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, particularly hiking near Linville Falls and Craggy Gardens. Jack would plan vacations often to Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head, SC and other beautiful places filled with excitement. In 1986, Jack divorced Catherine but always remained her close friend till she died in 2003.

Jack’s love of nature and beautiful women introduced him to Aileen Mangum in 1990. They fell in love and never parted. Aileen was with Jack through the great times and through his decline until the very end. She will forever be part of our family, as will her daughter Lindsay Silvers.

Anyone who knew Jack knew that he was a loving but strict father, and he developed a drinking problem that eventually overtook his son William as well. After years of alcoholism, Jack reached sobriety in 2015 with his son following him in 2017. Jack was predeceased by his mother, Violet, his father Joseph, and his brother Henry, as well as many beautiful and loving brothers and sisters-in-law from his former wife’s family. He is survived by his son William “Will”, and engaged partner Scott Lanning; his daughter, Linda Hall Roberts, and husband Lee Crawford; his sweet grandchild Angules “Angel” Sikorski, Linda’s daughter; sister-in-law Barbara Walker Hall (Henry), and many wonderful nieces and nephews.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations should be directed to any Alcoholics Anonymous Chapter, The John F. Keever Solace Center, Asheville, NC, or to the Dementia Society of America. It was Jack’s wish to be cremated and the family will scatter his cremains privately as instructed. If possible, a service of remembrance or celebration of life, with military honors, will be announced on this website later.