Catherine Elizabeth Hall

Catherine Elizabeth “Kitty” Hall died peacefully in the early hours of Monday, November 29, 2021, following a lengthy illness. She was born to Thomas C. Hall and Eunice Perkins Hall on July 18, 1946, in Sulphur, LA. The family moved to Lake Charles, LA before Kitty started elementary school.

After graduating from Lake Charles High School in 1964, she left for Hollins College in Roanoke, VA. Kitty participated in Hollins Abroad her junior year, travelling through numerous European and Soviet countries and becoming fluent in French. Upon graduation in 1968, she was recruited by Hollins to be an on-the-road recruiter.

In 1969, Kitty moved to New York City and worked for Simon & Schuster as a publicist. While living there, she went to the First Liberation March for Equality in 1970 and stood in front of the New York Library to hear feminist speakers. In 1971, after a lengthy trip to Europe, she moved to Boston where she worked as a Kelly Girl while her husband was in Harvard Business School. The following year they moved to New Orleans where Kitty went to Tulane Law School.

After graduating from law school, she worked in New Orleans for six years with the Louisiana State Law Institute on the revision of the Louisiana Civil Code.

Through her Tulane contacts who knew she spoke fluent French, Kitty was offered a position in Kinshasa, Zaire to work as the co-director of a school of public health. She lived there for two years, and later worked in Mozambique as an Academic Specialist Grantee.

Because of her work in Africa, fluency in French and knowledge of both civil code and common law, Kitty was recruited at an American Bar Association Convention to work directly with US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Haiti. As project officer, she would oversee The Justice Project to try to help improve conditions in the Haitian Justice System. Due to the assassination of the Minister of Justice, who was to be her partner, the project was postponed one year.

During the year waiting to travel to Haiti, Kitty moved to Austin, Texas. She was offered another position in Peru so she spent a month in Guatemala learning Spanish. When the US occupied Haiti, Kitty assumed the position there during a dangerous and turbulent time. She directed the efforts of the US Army Reserves personnel and received an award from General Campbell, the US Army Reserve General.

In 1998, Kitty accepted a position as Senior Manager at Chemonics International in Washington, D.C. and was sent to Moscow to help repair another project. She was a technical advisor to more projects in Africa for several years and finished a course in Mediation at the University of Texas during the same period. Short term consulting trips included Zambia, Morocco and Moldova.

From 2008 to 2009 she rescued a USAID Rule of Law project in Rwanda. Kitty loved Rwanda and said some of her favorite moments in time were spent with the gorillas in the mountains of Rwanda. In 2013, she traveled to Burundi to assist the Ministry of Justice in writing and revising laws.

Kitty is survived by her brothers Philip P. Hall and wife, Yvonne Benoit Hall of Kemah, Texas, Thomas C. Hall and wife, Wendy Holmgren of Austin, Texas and one sister, Susan P. Hall and husband, William Scott Huston of Austin, Texas. Kitty is also survived by 4 nieces, Ruth Stephens, Sara Stephens, Lara Hall and Dr. Alyse Power, as well as one nephew, Phil Hall, and wife Amy Benton and their twins, Chloe and Ezra Hall.

Some of the joy in Kitty’s home life came from laughter, excellent cuisine, the company of cats, swimming laps and enjoying many lasting friendships from all the countries in which she lived.

Donations in memory of Catherine Elizabeth Hall can be made to:

Women for Women International Global Support Center

PO Box 9224

Central Islip, NY 11722-9224

(202) 737-7705

Hospice Austin

4107 Spicewood Springs Road

Austin, Texas 78759

Phone: (512) 342-4700

[email protected]