Alan Dana Hall
OBITUARY
Alan “Al” Hall was born on August 31, 1938, to Grant and Helene Hall and passed away at home with family by his side on May 2, 2026. A native San Diegan, Alan came from one of El Cajon’s founding families; his grandfather, W.D. Hall, was an early pioneer who established and operated the town’s hardware store and lumberyard.
In 1946, the Hall family moved to the oceanfront beach house they built in Mission Beach. Alan later reminisced in his journal, “Living at the beach was like a wonderful vacation. We swam, surfed, fished during the day and played games at night: kick the can, hide and seek, pom pom pullaway.” The family later returned to El Cajon, where Alan became interested in baseball and was the Rotary Team catcher.
Alan was in the first graduating class of El Cajon High School in 1956, where he played football and baseball. He went on to the University of Arizona, where during his three years as the starting catcher, he helped the Wildcats reach three straight College World Series appearances, earned second-team All-American honors in 1959 and first-team, 1960, and represented the U.S. in the Pan American Games. After graduating in 1960, he spent five seasons in the New York Yankees’ Minor League farm system.
Following his baseball career, Alan went into education, spending 33 years at Bolsa Grande High School in Garden Grove, California (commuting from San Diego for 18 of those years) as a teacher, coach, and Athletic Director, before retiring in 1998.
In 1979, Alan married Louise Devich, a fellow native San Diegan. They shared a love of the arts, Alan in woodworking and Louise in painting, as well as enjoying traveling, spending time with family and friends, movies, and reading. Al also enjoyed his annual camping and fishing trips to Baja California.
Alan was known for his morning McDonald’s coffee and chocolate chip cookie run, followed by woodworking, a mid-day nap, more woodworking, and several evenings a week playing gin (16-night-in-a-row champion) and games of farkle. For many years, he took long, daily walks scouting for coins and the occasional bill and kept a log of his finds in competition with a neighbor.
Alan was a gifted storyteller with a wonderful memory for names, dates, and places, had a great sense of humor, and was an absolute joy to be around. He loved to tell stories of his childhood, his Baja fishing trips, movies, and books, and it was always fun to watch a Padres game with him as he told baseball stories of the past.
Alan was preceded in death by his beloved wife Louise, brother Steve, son Michael, and his granddaughter Cameron. He is survived by his children: Greg, Jeff (Kris), and Carrie Hall, Christopher and Leslie Schnaubelt; his brother Roger (Elaine), sister Sally, and sister-in-law Marianne Hall; and his dearly loved grandchildren Dillon, Demi, and Gage; as well as extended family and a wide circle of friends.
A private Celebration of Life was held in his honor.
We will miss him more than words can say. We leave you with Alan’s own words, written in 1972: “Relax and enjoy life. That’s my motto…you only have one life to live.”