Published: March 19, 2025
Kendal at Oberlin is home to more than 300 people in their 60s and well beyond. They come from near (Oberlin and Cleveland) and far (Hawaii, Canada and elsewhere). The residents share many common values, such as sustainability and lifelong learning, and many have ties to Oberlin College. But each resident has his or her own unique story.
Meet Rich Hall
Love of teaching is part of Rich Hall’s DNA, so no surprise that the retired college professor (and son of a college professor) signed up to teach a lifelong learning class soon after he arrived at Kendal in 2018. He taught his second class with wife Prudy, also a retired college professor, and just finished up his third, this one on the history of astronomy.
“It was a big class, people were into it and asked good questions,” Rich says, adding that a prospective resident was visiting Kendal during one of the sessions and joined them.
And no surprise that the couple moved to Kendal. They met at Oberlin College (Class of 1959) and they both love music, so being close to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and living in a retirement community with many musicians and music lovers was a big plus.
“It certainly put Kendal on our radar when we started to think about moving to a retirement community,” says Rich, who plays piano and sings in the Kendal Choir. Next month at the annual Spring Fling he’ll be leading the audience in a Gilbert & Sullivan song.
His wife Prudy plays viola in a combo, playing every Sunday evening for a dance group which does English country dancing.
Other Kendal activities
Rich spent four years on the Kendal at Oberlin Residents Association council and chaired its Suggestions and Concerns Committee. During his tenure a resident came to the committee with a concern about hearing difficulties in some of the public spaces, especially dining areas. As a result, a Hearing Issues Interest Group was formed, and they are now working with architects involved with the Phase 2 renovation of the dining areas to address noise issues.
“I feel really good that this interest group came out of our Suggestions and Concerns Committee,” Rich says.
Once a month he joins about a dozen other Kendal residents at the Second Harvest Food Bank in nearby Lorain to pack food for pantries. Also, monthly he volunteers for front desk duty at Kendal.
Beyond the Buckeye State
Two places outside Ohio that hold fond memories for Rich are Door County, Wisconsin, and East Lansing, Michigan.
Growing up, Rich spent his summers on Green Bay, where he fell in love with sailing. “When I was in high school and college I would take four to five people out at a time on my dad’s 18-foot boat, and charged them $1 per person for an hour’s sail out from the picturesque village of Ephraim, Wisconsin,” he says.
In the summer of 1957, he took his then-girlfriend Prudy out for her first sail on a stormy Green Bay and she loved sailing too. Over the years the couple spent much of their summers sailing on northern Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and the North Channel of Lake Huron. Rich sold their boat “Providence” when he turned 80 (he’s now 87) so he goes sailing on friends’ boats when they visit Green Bay. (Pictured above)
Rich was a philosophy professor at Michigan State University and retired in 2002. The couple had spent 15 years traveling back and forth between East Lansing and Hiram, Ohio, where Prudy taught biology and chemistry, so since Rich retired first he moved to Hiram. Prudy retired from Hiram College in 2005.
Thinking about spending their retirement in Ohio, though, did give Rich pause. “I was a little concerned politically as Ohio is somewhat more conservative than Michigan but being in an academic community like Oberlin has made it easy, as I’m surrounded by people who think like I do.”
