McCarran Airport pioneer Hall dies at 78

Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998 | 10:58 a.m.

As McCarran International Airport experienced tremendous growth in recent years, Earl Hall got to see a lot of significant changes while working in the construction and engineering division for the Clark County Department of Aviation.

He remarked to co-workers as he watched old buildings and hangars being torn down that he had worked on crews that four and five decades earlier had built those very structures.

Indeed, McCarran had long been his second home.

Earl Edward Hall, a county project coordinator and management analyst at the airport since 1981 and an employee at the facility since 1946, died of cancer Saturday in Las Vegas. He had turned 78 six days earlier.

"All of those years, he has worked at the airport in one role or another," said McCarran spokesman Adam Mayberry. "Still, it was hard to believe Earl was 78 because he was so youthful -- and always pleasant."

Describing the Las Vegas resident of 52 years as a man who made friends with everyone he met, Randall Walker, director of the county's aviation department, heralded Hall as an institution at the airport.

"Earl will forever be a part of aviation history in Southern Nevada," Walker said. "He leaves behind a legacy of being not only an outstanding employee and a hard worker, but also a friend to his many co-workers and a dedicated family man."

Hall's family greeted several hundred current and past airport workers on Dec. 17 at McCarran, when a barbecue was held in his honor shortly after he had to stop working because of illness. Hundreds more went to Christ Church Episcopal Tuesday for Hall's services.

"A janitor (at the airport) once remarked that my father always remembered his name and never failed to ask him about his family every time they would pass each other -- that's how my father was with everyone," said Alene Victoria Balse of Mendocino, Calif.

"He took life one day at a time and always counted his blessings, even after he was diagnosed with cancer last Thanksgiving."

Balse said working at the airport enriched her father's life, noting that he had no plans to retire despite being well past the standard age of retirement.

"He taught me that if you love your job, you will never have to go to work," she said.

Over the years, Hall held various jobs at the airport, including several positions for Bonanza Airlines, from chief storekeeper to director of purchasing to assistant vice president of operations. Hall also worked for several other airlines, including Pan Am, Hughes Air West and Scenic Airlines.

Born Jan. 25, 1920, in Kearny, N.J., Hall attended PS 125 in Sunnyside, N.Y., graduated from high school on Long Island and attended college in New York, before landing a job with Pan Am.

At the outbreak of World War II, Hall joined the Navy and was assigned to help build air strips in West Africa.

At that time, Hall also regularly helped folks from a nearby village. Once, he heard screams and rushed out of a hut to see several villagers frightened by a small snake, which he simply stomped on and killed.

"What my father didn't know was that it was a green mamba, one of the world's deadliest snakes," Balse said. "After that they called him the hero of the village."

Before Hall returned home, the thankful villagers melted down a silver coin and made a ring with an African prayer inscription on it. They presented it to Hall, who recently gave it to his grandson, Shyam Balse.

In 1946, Hall came to Las Vegas as a Pan Am employee. Three years later, he was hired by Bonanza Airlines, the first postwar airline to base its operations at what was then McCarran Field.

In 1979, Hall went to work for the county and two years later, at age 61, became a management analyst -- a position he would hold for 16 years.

Late Friday, family members gathered around Hall's deathbed to share with their ailing patriarch their thoughts about the meaningful things he had done for them.

"He couldn't talk, but for the last 10 minutes of his life, his eyes were wide open," Balse said. "My daughter, Shanti, was in England, but spoke to him on the phone, telling him he was her best friend."

Shanti Balse arrived home in time to deliver the eulogy Tuesday telling mourners that she did not feel that Hall had departed, but rather had become a permanent part of her because of his great influence.

Shyam Balse recalled with fondness the many conversations he had with his grandfather while attending college. He was especially grateful for Hall's gift of a video camera that he took with him on an anthropology trip to Nepal his junior year.

The gift turned out to be significant because Shyam today is a film anthropologist. Just before Hall died, Shyam told him he would dedicate his first major documentary to his memory.

In addition to his daughter and two grandchildren, Hall is survived by his wife, Irene Hall.

DONATIONS: To the welfare of Irene Hall. Call 798-4024.