Henrietta "Henny" Hall

The year was 1967. Under a salon hair dryer Henrietta (Henny) Rosenthal Hall picked up a magazine and read about a family who traveled to the Canary Islands, and her adventurous spirit took flight. She brought the idea home to her husband Ed and together they planned the next chapter of their lives. With their three children in tow, they traveled to Europe on a freighter, bought a Volkswagen van, and toured Europe for a year, settling in Portugal for the winter. Not long after their return to the U.S., when faced with the challenges of her cancer diagnosis and an economic recession, Portugal beckoned once more. Living there for four more years was an experience that enriched the lives of their children and reflected the unique and adventurous spirit that Henny brought to the world.

We lost a truly bright light on Sept 30, 2026, when Henny passed from this life to begin her next adventure at the age of 100.

Born in St. Louis, MO, on Sept 8, 1926, to Romanian Jewish immigrants Fannie and Morris Rosenthal, Henny began life on Blackstone Avenue, the first of many places she would call home over her century of life. As the youngest of five siblings, she straddled generations at a time of great societal change. From an early age she rejected the roles expected of her and became the first in her family to attend college, graduating from Washington University in St. Louis when she was 19 years old. She worked as a social worker before defying expectations once again by, as she said, “kicking the dust off my boots” and moving to Los Angeles at the age of 25. As a strong independent woman, Henny worked for an employment agency, eventually acting as a whistle blower by documenting the discrimination she witnessed in her job, thus contributing to the passing of the California Fair Employment Practices Act of 1959.

She loved her life in L.A., always saying later she felt, “I’d died and gone to heaven.” It was there that she met Ed Hall, a policeman, on a midnight blind date. Their love was fiery, a match of opinionated equals – the policeman and the social worker. Each a unique combination of hard working and fun loving, of modern thinking and open-hearted values, they married in 1955 and built an enviable partnership of love, support and respect over more than 50 years. They were soon joined by children Stacy, Mark, and Ellen, who inherited their sense of adventure and independent spirit. When Ed retired from the police force after 20 years, at the age of 42, they began their European chapter.

Upon their return to the U.S. in the 1970’s, Ed and Henny ‘s adventures continued in Palo Alto, CA and Corvallis and Portland, OR. After Ed’s death in 2007, Henny traveled solo across the country by train and over the years lived in Chula Vista and Los Angeles, CA and finally, Seattle, WA.

A lifelong mah jongg player, she taught an army of women to play and was a devoted and much-loved member of many mah jongg groups. She was an exceptional cook whose decorated cakes appeared at every birthday, and she and Ed wrote and published the first digital cookbook in the early days of computers. Her corny poems crowned every family event, and she was an avid reader and beautiful china painter. Ask her grandkids what they loved about her and they will tell you about learning from her how to play poker, watch football, eat ribs, drink beer, and make martinis.

Henny modeled how to fight for all that is important in life. A strong supporter of civil rights, she volunteered for candidates she believed in, even canvassing for Obama in her 80s. From an early age, her interests, actions and the choices she made in life set the groundwork for much of the freedom young women in the following generations enjoyed. She faced health battles: cancer twice, as well as heart surgery. And she fought for her people, her family, unforgiving of anyone who hurt her or those she loved.

In every place she lived she connected with people drawn to her vibrant energy, her intelligence, and her warmth, sense of humor, and kind heart. Many people, young and old, found an emotional home in Henny, and she held those relationships close.

Each of her children, their spouses, and grandchildren felt clearly seen, fiercely loved, and deeply supported by her throughout their lives. Her stories, her guidance, and her example were a rich and generous source of lessons on how to live a meaningful life. She taught us to celebrate the occasions, or else “every day would just be the same,” and, clear-eyed always, when faced with difficult times, she modeled how to regroup, think, accept, and come up with a plan on how to move forward. Her sense of fun was contagious, and when she laughed, often unexpectedly and with abandon, the whole room and everyone in it lit up.

As a child in St. Louis, Henny grew up with the sad knowledge that her mother’s sister Sarah, who lived in Paris, had been killed in a concentration camp during World War II. Contact with that part of the family was lost in the aftermath of the war, and Henny remembered her mother’s tears. A few years ago, in a beautiful twist of fate, the European branch of the family was re-discovered and one of the French cousins traveled to the U.S. to meet Henny and her older sister, Millie. Henny cried with joyful relief at the closing of a circle that had been broken, and a family reunited once more.

Henny - loving mother of Stacy (Guillermo), Mark (Lee), and Ellen (Paul), grandmother of Diego (Lindsay), Nicolas, Mario (Shannon), Phillip, and Francesca, and great-grandmother of Emme and Mia, sister, aunt, cousin and friend - will be so very missed.