Hall, J. Tillman 1916–2007

(Joseph Tillman Hall)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 16, 1916, in Big Sandy, TN; died following a stroke, June 6, 2007, in Inglewood, CA. Educator, administrator, folk dancer, and author. Hall was best known for the youth dance group that he founded, more or less as a hobby, in 1950. The Westchester Lariats began as an after-school square dance group that Hall created in his western Los Angeles neighborhood. He later revealed his initial doubts that a country dance group would succeed on the West Coast, but his young dancers became nationally recognized. They performed on the television program The Lawrence Welk Show and even toured U.S. and European cities on a regular basis. The Lariats, who were still performing at the time of their founder's death, added international folk dances to their roster and made thousands of appearances in the twenty-five years that Hall and his wife were in charge. Professionally, Hall was an academic who taught physical education at the University of Southern California for more than twenty years. Officially retired in 1989, he assumed the leadership of the university's Emeriti Center, where he recruited dozens of other university retirees to go out into the community and continue teaching informally what they had once taught for a living. Some of their favorite venues were local senior centers and retirement homes. Hall also established the University of Southern California Living History Project to videotape oral interviews with aging educators and administrators. He continued that work until 1996. Hall wrote or coauthored books on physical fitness, education, and dance, including Dance! A Complete Guide to Social Folk & Square Dancing (1963), Folk Dance (1969), the two-volume work Until the Whistle Blows: A Collection of Games, Dances, and Activities … (1976-77), Total Fitness for Men (1980), and Physical Education in the Elementary School (1980).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2007, p. B13.