Jimmie Lila Hall

HALL, Mrs. Jimmie Lila Talley, 79, a resident of Goshen, Alabama, passed away on Saturday, November 11, 2017, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. Funeral services for Mrs. Hall will be held at 11 AM on Thursday, November 16, at Eastern Hills Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama with Rev. Kenneth Hudgens officiating. Friends and family will reconvene in Elam Cemetery in Goshen for the interment at 1:30 PM with Turners Funeral Home of Luverne directing. Born in Rutledge, Alabama, to Melvin and Inice Talley, Mrs. Hall went on to marry her high school sweetheart, Thomas Franklin Hall, of nearby Glenwood. Jimmie Lila started teaching after getting her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education at Troy University. Her first teaching job was at Highland Avenue Elementary School in Montgomery, in 1960. In May of 1962, she gave birth to their daughter, Gloria Gail Hall, and then to a son, Joseph Douglas Hall, a little over a year later. After about three years at Highland Avenue, she started teaching at Head Elementary on the Atlanta Highway, in Montgomery. In the meantime, she returned to get her Master’s in Education at Troy University of Montgomery. In 1966, she accepted a teaching position at the Montgomery Academy, on Vaughn Road in Montgomery. She taught there for fourteen years. In 1980, she started teaching at St. James School, in Montgomery. After a few years as a full-time teacher at Saint James, she became a substitute teacher there, before retiring around 1985. Throughout her career, she taught mostly the second and third grade students. She was strict, but compassionate. She wanted to make sure her students were well prepared for the next year of school, and for whatever life might bring them. She had the most beautiful head of red hair you had ever seen, but the best of her was her golden heart. She kept in touch with many of her former students, and was thrilled to see them while out and about, after she retired. In 2005, she and Tommy moved to family property in Goshen, Alabama, near where they had left many hometown friends years before. She will be missed here on earth, but she is now in the loving arms of her Lord and Savior. Jimmie Lila is preceded in death by her parents. She leaves behind her loving husband of 58 years, Tommy, her daughter and son-in-law, Gloria and Mark Pickens of Hoover, Alabama, and her son and daughter-in-law, Joseph Douglas “Doug” and Tammy (née Hornsby) Hall of Montgomery. She also leaves behind three wonderful grandchildren, Avery and Reid Pickens, and Victoria Hall, her loving older brother, Drayton (Marion) Talley of Madison, Alabama, several nieces, nephews, cousins, and hundreds of beloved students. Active pallbearers will be Bill Nestor, Reid Pickens, Russell Smith, Doug Hall, Steve Hall, and Berry Vines. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages you to honor Jimmie Lila's memory by giving to an active teacher of your choice. They will receive friends at the church on Thursday from 10 – 11 AM.