David Allen Hall

01/10/1946 – 04/28/2023

On April 28, 2023, Dr. David Hall, J.D., Ph.D. passed away at 77 years young after gallantly fighting multiple diseases. An avid runner, dancer, sailor, skier, engineer, attorney, friend, and dedicated husband, he spent his life doing heat transfer engineering at IBM for 30 years. Following that, he graduated from University of Texas Law School at the age of 56; practiced intellectual property (IP) law for Jackson Walker Law Firm for three years and had a solo IP law firm for seven years in Blanco; served one term as Blanco County attorney where he claimed to be, part mediator, parent, marriage counselor, referee, and prosecutor. Every day brought something new . He regretted not running for re-election! He volunteered for Blanco County ESD No. 2 as in-house counsel for four years and dearly loved his "multi-talented" wife of 42 years, Ann Mullins Painton Hall. But most of all, David liked to do physical labor, whether it was building rainwater collection systems, trimming trees, picking up rocks, fossils, or arrowheads on his Blanco property.

His second love was running; he ran the first 30 Capital 10K races in Austin (6.2 miles) and many, many others! His best 10K time was 37 minutes flat. He ran 14 Marathons (26.2 miles) with a best time in 1982 of 2 hours, 47 minutes, 23 seconds at Dallas White Rock and ran one 50-mile race.

He grew up in multiple cities in Oklahoma while his father worked for Haliburton and went to high school in Brownwood, Texas. His younger brother, Larry, played center for the state championship Gordon Wood football team. When asked what he played, David delighted in responding, "the trumpet". He graduated from Oklahoma State University with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering.

David served as an Engineering duty officer and Dive Officer on the USS Bryce Canyon (AD-36), a destroyer tender, for two years in Pearl Harbor. He loved telling stories about his years in the Navy and tricks he played on others during Officer Candidate School.

Before moving to Blanco in 2002, he lived and raced sailboats for 25 years on Lake Travis. There he was elected to serve on the Travis County Water Control and Improvement District No. 17 for twelve years and served as President for two of those years.

David is survived by his wife Ann (aka Aggie); brother, Larry Hall and wife Jean (Laurel, MS); nephew Jeffrey Hall and wife Kelsey (Laurel, MS), stepson, Todd Painton, M.D (Neenah, WI). In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that those who can donate to Blanco Fire and EMS Auxiliary ( https://www.supportblancofireems.org/ ) or a charity of your choice.

And if you hear the country western songs, Orange Blossom Special or Just A Rainy Day Woman , think of David dancing with angels in starched jeans, a pearl snap shirt, and shined cowboy boots.

Private services are pending at this time.