Danny Davis: “I guess if I had not had to be here today, I would have been back in my community, where I live, at the Friendship…”

“I guess if I had not had to be here today, I would have been back in my community, where I live, at the Friendship Baptist Church, and I would have been there because today was the funeral for Mrs. Lucy Hall, who was the wife of the pastor of that church for the last 50 years. The Hall family have made tremendous impact on not only the community where we live, but also on the city of Chicago and its surrounding communities. Mrs. Hall was a retired educator. She and her husband raised their three children in our neighborhood. Two of their children are judges. One is an appellate court judge in the State of Illinois. The other is a supreme court judge in New York, and of course, their son is a noted psychologist who works in the State of New York. But Mrs. Hall exemplified the essence of excellence. She was indeed a grand lady, full of dignity, full of charm, full of commitment, full of dedication and full of hard work. She and her husband are legends in our neighborhood. They developed programs which originated at the Friendship Baptist Church to deal with health issues such as cancer. They provided mammogram screening and education. They had after-school reading and boy scouts and tutoring.”