Obituary of Judith Rhoda Chatfield Hall

Judith Rhoda Chatfield Hall, 93, of Morgantown, passed away peacefully at home on Monday, November 25, 2024. She was born in New York, NY, the daughter of the late Henry Chatfield and the late Sonia (Sigberman) Chatfield. She graduated from Hunter College High School, New York, NY, and earned her BS in Mathematics from the University of New Hampshire and her MS in Hygiene from the Harvard School of Public Health. She was employed from 1955 to 1957 as a biostatistician for the PanAmerican Sanitary Bureau (now the World Health Organization) in Washington, D.C. and from 1960 until her retirement in 1996 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Eberly College of West Virginia University. Judith had a lifelong love of classical music and of the natural world, both of which she and her husband John passed on to their three children, making sure that each of them had a solid musical education. She studied piano in New York City while growing up and then as a college student at UNH. During her high school and college years she spent several summers at her family's home on Sutton Island, Maine, and filled many happy hours playing music there among the pines. She particularly loved the northern climates and after her retirement, she and John traveled extensively to Alaska, northern Canada (including a memorable trip to Baffin Island), and Scandinavia. She is survived by three children: Martha Gach (Gerard), of Lyman, ME, Kathy deGraaf (Bruce), of Northborough, MA, and John M. Hall (Vanessa) of Annandale, VA; six grandchildren: Eva Murphy (Josh), Margaret Gach, Karina deGraaf (Brandon Schenck), Stefan deGraaf, Ben Hall, and Natalie Hall; and two great-grandchildren. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, John Edgar Hall, a grandson, Henry Hall, and four sisters. In accordance with Judith's wishes, Hastings Funeral Home will provide cremation services. Burial will be at Penn Forest in Verona, PA. Friends and family will be received at Hastings Funeral Home, 153 Spruce St., Morgantown on Saturday January 18th from 3PM until the Celebration of Life at 4PM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Judith's memory to the Nature Conservancy of West Virginia, 435 Wilson Street, Elkins, WV 26241 (please write TNC West Virginia on the memo line) www.nature.org/donatewv, or the WVU Foundation- The Judith and John Hall Arts and Sciences Library Endowment (Fund # 3L157), 1 Waterfront Pl 7th Floor, Morgantown, WV 26501. Send condolences online at www.hastingsfuneralhome.com