The Rev. Dr. C. Kenneth Hall, 79, beloved husband, father, pastor, and friend died peacefully at 1 p.m. Friday at Butler Memorial Hospital after a short illness.

Born Nov. 12, 1924, in Carnegie, he was the son of Myrtle S. and Charles F. Hall.

Upon graduating from Carnegie High School in 1942, he enlisted in the Navy, where he was assigned to radar repair on an aircraft carrier.

After being discharged in 1946, he enrolled at Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University, where he graduated in 1948 with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. He had been a chemical engineer at Gulf Research & Development Co. from 1948 to 1951, when he received the calling to become a minister.

He enrolled at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1952 and graduated in 1954 with a master of divinity degree and was ordained by the Monongahela Presbytery (United Presbyterian Church of North America) May 22, 1954. In 1978, he received his doctorate of ministry from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

His first assignment as pastor was at Jefferson United Presbyterian Church in Gill Hall, Allegheny County, where he served from 1954 to 1957. He was then summoned to Butler as pastor of Hill United Presbyterian Church, where he served from 1957-1988 and from 1989 to 1991.

Rev. Hall become involved with the General Assembly in 1980, served on the mission council and its executive committee until 1983 and was promoted to chairperson in 1984.

Concerned about the problems in Northern Ireland, he joined the Presbyterian Committee on Northern Ireland in 1988 and traveled there several years for the Irish Summer Institute. He took a year's sabbatical from Hill Church when he was elected moderator of the 200th General Assembly (Presbyterian Church USA) in 1988. By the end of 1991, he retired to take an assignment as minister at large for the Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation, where he served until he retired in July 2003.

He once said that between working for the foundation and being moderator that he had been to almost every state in the Union and almost every country in the world. He continued to be involved with the Pittsburgh Seminary, served on the board of directors from 1993-1996 and on the board of trustees at the University of Dubuque from 1997-2000.

The seminary honored him with a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1991.

Surviving are his wife, Rose Kurtz, whom he married in June 1956; a daughter, Carole S., at home; and a son, Roger A. of Brooklin, Maine.

HALL - A memorial service for the Rev. C. Kenneth Hall, who died Friday, Oct. 15, 2004, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Hill United Presbyterian Church.Memorial donations may be made to The C. Kenneth Hall Northern Ireland Fund, The Presbyterian Foundation, 200 E. 12th St., Jeffersonville, IN 47130; or Hill United Presbyterian Church, 501 Second St., Butler, PA 16001.THOMPSON-MILLER FUNERAL HOME is handling arrangements; and information also is available at www.thompson-miller.com.