Gretchen Evangeline Hall died on March 6, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was born on November 29, 1960 to the Reverend Joel Hensel and Ruth Brusco Hensel. She grew up in Marion Springs, Michigan, and attended a two-room Lutheran schoolhouse where her father was the teacher and pastor. She graduated from Michigan State University and received a master’s degree in early childhood education from Lesley University. Gretchen was married in 1986 to Philip Hall and their son Joshua was born in 1995.
Throughout a more than thirty-year career, she held leadership positions at the Crittenton Women’s Union, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, the University of Massachusetts, and, most recently, the Home for Little Wanderers. She served for a time as a board member of the Boston Chapter of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and as a co-warden of Trinity Episcopal Church in Wrentham, MA.
Gretchen’s congenital heart condition was a defining event for her entire family. In 1964, her parents travelled with her by car from rural Michigan to Houston, Texas, where she received life-saving care from Dr. Michael DeBakey, a pioneer of modern heart surgery. In her adult life, she was immensely thankful for the support she received, both human and medical, from the cardiology team at Boston Children’s Hospital and the affiliated Boston Adult Congenital Heart Group (or BACH, a name of some resonance for a person of Lutheran origins). Her relationships with Dr. Michael Freed and Dr. Edward Walsh extended for more than three decades. As years progressed, she became close to a rising generation of physicians at Children’s, including her cardiologist Dr. Keri Shafer and doctors Dominic Abrams, Vassilios Bezzerides, Valeria Duarte, Douglas Mah, Michael Singh, and Robert Whitehill, to name only a few. Her life story was profiled by the hospital in 2016.
Gretchen viewed life as a great gift, and she was determined to live it normally and on her own terms. She was never happier than when surrounded by family and friends, and her days were filled with music, laughter and light. Her year was marked by a regular calendar of holidays and family visits, all of which were a source of great joy. She will be missed deeply as a colleague and friend, and as a loving sister, wife, and mother.
Gretchen was predeceased by her mother and father and her nephew John Hall. She is survived by her husband Philip of Franklin, MA and her son Joshua, her siblings Beth Burnham (David) of Mansfield, MA, John Hensel (Amy) of Highland Park, IL, David Hensel (Julie Van Haren) of Dallas, TX, Hannah Hensel of Ann Arbor, MI, and Jason Hensel of Big Rapids, MI. Her surviving nieces and nephews are Katherine and Laura Gretchen Burnham, Alexander and Eliza Hensel, and Frances, Isabel, Richard, and Thomas Hall.
A reception in celebration of Gretchen’s life will be held at the Proctor Mansion Inn, 36 Common Street, Wrentham, MA from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 22. A funeral mass will be held at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, 6 South Street, Ashfield, MA on Saturday, March 24 at 11:00, followed by interment at the Hill Cemetery, 321 Norton Hill Road, Ashfield, and a reception. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Gretchen’s memory to The Boston Children’s Hospital Trust, 401 Park Drive, Suite 602, Boston, MA 02115 (http://giving.childrenshospital.org/ways-to-give/give-now.html) or to The Home for Little Wanderers, The Center for Early Childhood, 10 Guest Street, Boston, MA, 02135.
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