Ella Sue Hall

Ella Sue Barber Hall, known to family and friends as Sue, was a longtime elementary school teacher who spent four decades in classrooms in Panama City, Florida, before retiring to Tuscumbia, Alabama, to be close to her daughter and grandchildren. She died at home in Tuscumbia on October 4, 2026, at the age of 92.

Sue was born on August 14, 1934, in Ashford, Alabama, the daughter of James Austin Barber and Mattie Pearl Barber. Her family's house stood across the street from the local school, an early exposure to education that shaped the rest of her life. She went on to attend Troy State Teachers College, now Troy University, where she majored in Elementary Education and played trumpet in the college band.

It was at Troy State that she met Robert Keats "Bobby" Hall, who became her husband and, in the words of her obituary, the love of her life. The couple built their life together in Panama City, Florida, where both of them taught in the public school system for years. Teaching was the defining work of Sue's life, and she remained in the classroom for 40 years before retiring.

After her retirement and the death of her husband, Sue left Florida and moved to Tuscumbia, Alabama, to be near her daughter, Joy Gina Williams, and her two granddaughters. Rather than slow down, she threw herself into her new community. She became an active member of First Baptist Church Tuscumbia, where she sang for years in the choir, and she filled her days with bridge clubs, study groups and group travel, pursuits that reflected what her family described as her boundless energy for new experiences.

Sue's death was announced through an obituary published by Morrison Funeral Home in Tuscumbia, which cared for her arrangements. She was remembered by her family as a devoted teacher, wife, mother and grandmother who approached her later years with the same enthusiasm she brought to the classroom. Her family offered particular thanks to Alabama Hospice of the Shoals and to the caregivers who looked after her in her final days.

She is survived by her daughter, Joy Gina Williams, her two granddaughters, Lauren Emily Perkins and Nicole Suzanne Donnell, and four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Betty Jane Hartzog, and her husband, Robert Keats Hall.