Kenneth P Hall

Born 02/17/1960
Died 11/23/2025


Ken was my oldest and dearest friend.
I met Ken at Bryant Elementary school in Riverside Ca. 55 years ago at the age of 10.

Reminiscing, during one of the schools assemblies an art instructor was on stage and asked all the children to render a bowl placed on a folding table. All the kids eagerly and methodically drew the best impression of this generic bowl. The deafening silence was pierced by loud bursts of laughter that emanated in the center section and suddenly engulfed the entire auditorium with uproarious laughter! All eyes were drawn to my buddy Kenny being dragged into the principals office with the teacher holding his masterpiece!

He had sketched the most perfect example of a toilet bowl that I have ever seen! And for a bunch of immature kids he was our hero, and I knew from that point on I wanted to be this kids friend.

He was a master craftsman, designer, painter, artist, draftsman, builder, mason, and mechanic. He was also a numismatist and dabbled in philately and a had a vast knowledge of history and antiques. In every endeavor or project he partook in he did it with unique and brilliant artistry.

In Berkeley, for over 25 years he was the home and grounds caretaker for Charles Townes the noble laureate. He also painted a mural collage of all the amazing actors and actresses of the past for Frank Sinatra’s restaurant named Pal Joey’s in Palm Springs.

While finishing up this project Frank Sinatra sent over to the restaurant two goons with one holding a photo of a younger version of Old blue eyes! The one holding the photo asked Ken to redraw Frank like this photo which showed a slender version of what he painted on the wall. Thinking Frank was associated with the mob he skipped town, and I believe he never redrew his image as requested!

He loved smoking, drinking beer, an occasional toke of Mary Jane while watching the history channel or some other type of educationally interesting show.

I loved him more than any man I have known and my wife, and son will miss him with all our hearts!