By Brian Ojanpa
WASECA — Avery “Doc” Hall let people know where he stood.
“He called a spade a spade and told you what he thought; he didn’t really care,” said Ron Fuchs who, like Hall, is a former Waseca VFW commander.
Hall, who also served as a six-term Waseca mayor, died Tuesday at age 90, and Waseca Senior Citizen Center bus driver Kari Kuball said she’ll miss the sightless man’s outgoing personality and caring nature.
“He was very kind, very giving, and very polite. He was very good to me and my 8-year-old son,” Kuball said. “He used to give him little gifts like stuffed animals and coins, and he took us out to supper a few times. He liked going out and he wanted to stay active.”
Born in Bailey, Iowa, Hall served in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years until his military retirement in 1963, when he and wife, Alice, moved to Waseca.
Hall owned an upholstery shop, The Furniture Hospital, and later did upholstery work at Mitchell Furniture, retiring in 1981.
His nickname “Doc” was coined by a Waseca newspaper representative, who thought the medical moniker would be an apt marketing tool for Hall’s Furniture Hospital ads.
A degenerative eye disease rendered Hall legally blind about 20 years ago, and his wife died in 2003.
“He adored his wife and missed her immensely,” Kuball said.
He was elected to two terms on the Waseca City Council and served as mayor from 1975 to 1987.
“He made enough enemies, but he had a lot of people who liked him. He was a really nice guy,” Fuchs said.
Waseca County veterans van driver Carl Rodahl said he drove Hall to the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Twin Cities on occasion.
“At 6 a. m. he’d be sitting outside waiting for me. For a blind guy he got around pretty good,” Rodahl said.
Current Waseca Mayor Roy Srp said the community is indebted to Hall for his years of service to the city.
“He was strong-willed and very much in tune with what was going on. I found him to be quite a conversationalist and he was very much community-spirited,” Srp said.
Services are 11 a.m. Monday at Evangelical United Methodist Church in Waseca.
