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The Hall Funeral Home has been serving Purcellville and the surrounding area
since it was founded in 1895 by John B. Cornwell. Cornwell had started with
just two rooms farther down Nursery Avenue.
When the Bethany United Methodist Church was built in 1926, he was able to buy
the white frame church building they were vacating. It houses the funeral home
today, with a chapel that seats 170, a family room that seats 40 and several
viewing rooms.
Cornwell's grandson, Aubrey C. Hall, joined the business after graduating from
Eckels College in Philadelphia in 1927. The name was changed to the Cornwell
and Hall Funeral Home. Hall took out an advertisement in the Loudoun
Times-Mirror on October 12, 1932, announcing his intention of continuing in the
business after Cornwell's death. "I shall endeavor to render the same
sympathetic and dignified service that has marked his work in the past," read
the announcement.
When Hall died in 1953, his widow Alice kept the funeral home open with the help
of assistant manager Melvin "Bunny" Allder, who had joined the staff in 1949.
Allder kept the business going while Alice Hall went to Richmond and pursued
her license, and in 1956 became a licensed funeral director. Allder and Alice
Hall ran the business with the help of two different managers from that time
on.
When Alice Hall died in 1990, the business and the property passed to her three
children -- Betty Hall Phillips, Billie Hall Crouch, and Aubrey C. Hall Jr.
Aubrey Jr.'s daughter Holly, a political science graduate of Mary Washington
College and The George Washington University, married a high school
acquaintance, Carl Nichols. He earned to a business degree from West Virginia
University.
Carl received his mortuary science degree from Catonsville Community College
and then became Hall Funeral Home's manager on April 1, 1996. Carl and Holly
live in Purcellville with their son, Dale Christian, born June 12, 1996 and
daughter, Carrie Elaine, born October 14, 1999. The entire family is active in
both Purcellville and the larger community.
The Nichols family attends North Fork Baptist Church. Carl is active in the
local Rotary, Purcellville Business Association and serves as manger of the
Ebenezer Cemetery. Billie Crouch is manager of Loudoun National Bank of
Leesburg. She attends Hamilton Baptist Church and is a member of the Loudoun
County Chamber of Commerce. She has served on the board of ECHO. Betty Phillips
is a 5th grade teacher at Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Virginia. She
and her husband, Sonny, belong to the Virginia Steeplechase Association and the
National Steeplechase Association. He is a "fixture" officiating at local point
to point races and steeplechase races.
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