Beach Hall

Back from a two-week hiatus at his condo in Colorado, Rogers City mayor Beach Hall was on the phone with city manager Mark Slown being apprised of what has been going on in his absence. Hall, 80, returned Monday in time to attend Monday’s goal setting workshop. City meeting agendas and a stack of mail held together with a rubber band are spread out on the dining room table, a room he jokingly refers to as his satellite office. Hall, a retired General Motors employees and a former Army counter intelligence agent, has his actual office in the basement of his Lake Street home. “Nobody gets to go down there,” said Hall, pointing to the stairwell that runs between the den and kitchen.

Hall and his wife of 57 years, Kellie, have called it their permanent home for just about 20 years. He met Kellie at Carleton College in Northfield Minnesota at a freshmen picnic in his first month at the institution. They were married in August 1954. He earned a masters degree in business from Ball State University and moonlighted as an economics for a few semesters.

Hall was elected to a sixth consecutive mayoral term last November. Only former mayor James Stewart (1974-1989) has served the city longer. Hall had been serving as chairman of the Community Development Authority when his predecessor Dave Nadolsky decided to step down. Hall rarely misses meetings, presiding over council meetings and carrying out civil and ceremonial functions, the patent definition of a typical mayor of Small Town U.S.A. Hall’s volunteerism and civic dedication are far from common, though. “Hall is involved in many civic activities related to the city, but not strictly ‘mayoral’ such as the District Library Board, Masonic Lodge, Kiwanis Club, and probably more,” said city manager Mark Slown. So much more.

For starters, he was just re-appointed to another six years on the Alpena Regional Medical Center board of trustees. I’m very happy they think I’m going to live six more years,” said Hall, breaking into a wide grin many city residents have become accustomd to over the years. He’s on the Thunder Bay Community Health Services board and was on the Mercy Health Services board, which operated Catholic hospitals and clinics in two states. He also served on the board of pensions of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. for 14 years and is still is a corporate board member of Delta Dental.

He is chairman of the Presque Isle District Library board and has been a part of the Presque Isle Historical Museum board since 1995 and served as president when the Smithsonian exhibit came to Rogers City in September 2001. He is on the board of directors of the Michigan Port Collaborative. Slown also said Hall had a hand in getting the light fixtures at the Rogers City Post Office replaced. He’s also been a long-standing member of the Kiwanis Club and a Presbyterian elder since 1961.

“I hope to be active for a real long time,” said Hall. “Harry Whiteley is my ideal.” The former Advance publisher is 91. “He’s still very active, very sharp.” Interestingly enough, Whiteley, a former member of the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) posed in a framed portrait that used to hang in the Advance offices before the 2006 fire. Whiteley was pictured in hunting clothes with Hall’s uncle George Griffith, who Whiteley eventually replaced on the NRC.

BEACH AND Kellie found their future retirement home while sailing the Great Lakes. Rogers City became a familiar stop and they eventually bought the Lake Street home in 1982 and rented it out until retirement day arrived.

“I haven’t regretted a moment of moving here,” said Hall. He worked in the former General Motor’s central office. He was there from January 1973 until September 1991. “At the time I retired I was the director of General Motor’s health care plans for the corporation,” he said. Along the way, he was involved on a committee selecting locations for new plants, including the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Ohio, but one of the difficult duties was plant closings.

“The benefits part of it,” said Hall. “That got to be real interesting. Some of them were done very, very well. Others were very antagonistic.” The toughest one was at a ball bearing plant in New Jersey. “They were not a group of happy campers,” said Hall. “That was one the UAW was concerned enough about the workforce that we actually had plain clothes policemen in the audience, in case they came after us, but they didn’t.” Did that prepare him for the controversies that have cropped up over the years at council meetings? “Not hardly,” he responded with a laugh. That was beforeApril 1984. He went on vacation and came back to find he had new health care responsibilities.

BEFORE HIS days with GM, Hall was a counter intelligence agent working at the Pentagon, right out of intelligence school. “I was in plain clothes until the day I was discharged,” said Hall. “And I guarantee you, I got a lot more respect in plain clothes and with a badge, than I would have ever gotten in uniform.” One of the most notable assignments was attending some of the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. “I met Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn and Bobby Kennedy,” Hall reflected. Hall attended meetings, took notes, and checked out some of McCarthy’s allegations of a Communist infiltration of the Army Signal Corps laboratory at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. “Could never prove a thing that he (McCarthy) said,” said Hall. He got to know the Pentagon intimately, where he had security responsibilities. “The other good part was the Army gave me an allowance to buy civilian clothing,” he said, “and I’ve outgrown everything except a top coat that I own and wear when it’s really cold out.”

“It was obviously way too big when he bought it,” Kellie chimed in from the kitchen. “Hush,” said Beach. Hall said surveillance looks very exciting on television, but what it really is is hundred of hours of sitting around trying to stay “alert and intelligent” for 10 seconds of substance. “I know at one point there was a group of us and we parked ourselves, two at a time, in a church steeple,” said Hall. “The guy we were trying to spot, he came out of his house twice in a week. You are just sitting there looking.” THE START of his sixth term has brought a seemingly new challenge, with the disappointing developments of the Wolverine Power Clean Energy Venture being put on hold.

“I had high hopes, and still have some hope that Wolverine might get something underway,” said Hall. “But, my 90 percent of optimism back in the fall has been tempered. “We’re going to let the dust settle, but I would expect that council may pass a resolution and send it on to our senators, congressman and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). I don’t know if sending it to the President will help much. I work a lot with both Senator (Carl) Levin and (Debbie) Stabenow’s offices and with Congressman Beneshik’s Gaylord office.

“I hope and pray that something will develop and we’ll move ahead. I’m a perpetual optimist.” He said a lot has been accomplished the last several years with water and sewer upgrades, and a new water tower. “I’m looking forward to the next couple of years,” said Hall of his two-year term. Of the past 10 years, “It’s been an honor and a pleasure.”