Juanita Hall, a once-lonely girl who found love in family

JUANITA G. HALL had a lonely childhood, and she grew up yearning for a large family with happy descendants gathered together for mutual comfort and caring.

She got her wish. She had eight children, who went on to have 30 grandchildren and more than 30 great- and great-great-grandchildren - five generations of love.

And Juanita, the lonely child from Georgia, was the proud matriarch.

"I never wanted my children to be lonely growing up the way I was as a child," she would say.

Juanita Hall, a political junkie who liked to keep up with current events, a spectacular cook in the Southern tradition and a woman whose primary focus was always on caring for her family, died Thursday of complications of a stroke. She was 87 and lived in Augusta, Ga.

She was born in Augusta, the only child of Sarah Griffin and Isaac Moore. She moved to North Philadelphia after marrying Johnnie Erving Sr., a World War II vet and Philadelphia police officer. The marriage ended in divorce.

Juanita lived in Philadelphia for more than 30 years, loved the city and its special ambience, but in 1979 she and her second husband, Edward Hall, moved back to Augusta so she could take care of her aging mother and aunt.

There, she presided over "Grandmom's House."

The house became a special place that lured her far-flung family, many of them living in the Philadelphia area, to prolonged visits to revel in Grandmom's loving concern and, not least of all, her soul-food cooking.

Karen Hamilton, a granddaughter, was a student at the University of Pennsylvania when she would take a 20-hour Greyhound bus ride back to Georgia to visit Grandmom during spring and Christmas breaks.

One time, in the late '80s, Grandmom was watching developments of the Iran-Contra scandal on TV, featuring Oliver North, and she wanted to know what her granddaughter thought of it.

Karen had to confess that she hadn't really been keeping up with the story, but Grandmom didn't want to hear that. She expected everyone to be as informed as she was about current events.

It was a big deal when she got cable TV so she could watch CNN and MSNBC. She was a staunch liberal Democrat, and one of the highlights of her life was when Barack Obama was elected, then re-elected, the first African-American president.

"I never thought I'd live to see this day," she said.

Juanita was just as determined to keep up with the doings of her extended family, a task made easier by the fact that she had a phenomenal memory. She remembered everybody's birthday and was diligent about sending cards.

She didn't travel much, but used the telephone to keep in touch. Late-night calls were common, during which she would discuss politics, current affairs or amusing stories from the family history.

"Mom was involved with everybody's life," said her oldest daughter, Delores Brown. "She knew what was going on with everyone and she had a whole network of people from the church, the neighborhood and in the family that she kept up with on that telephone."

The reason family members would do things like take a 20-hour bus ride to visit Juanita was that she had a way of making everybody feel special.

"She made you think you were the center of attention, that everything revolved around you," Karen Hamilton said.

When she was ailing and no longer able to get around much, Karen and her son, James, visited her. She looked at James and said, "I wish I could make some sweet-potato pone for that boy."

That was one of her specialties. And she loved to bake. Her Southern caramel cake, made from scratch, the recipe passed down from earlier generations, was a family legend.

Juanita was diligent about voting. Her aunt Maggie Freeman lived to be 104 and was still voting.

She held Aunt Maggie up as an example for others. "If Aunt Maggie can still vote, you can, too," she would admonish.

Juanita was a member of the Doyle Grove Baptist Church, in Blythe, Ga., founded by her son, the Rev. Isaac Hall, and his wife, the Rev. Jessie Hall, who cared for her until her death.

In her later years, when she was not as frisky as she had been, she would respond to people asking how she was doing with: "I'm still kicking - not as high, but I'm still kicking. God is good."

Her second husband was killed in a traffic accident in Georgia in the '90s.

Besides her daughter and son, she is survived by three other sons, John Erving Jr., Gregory Erving and Odell Erving; three other daughters, Veronica Erving, Patricia Erving and Bessie Erving; her former husband, Johnnie Erving Sr.; a stepdaughter, Gloria Evans; 30 grandchildren, and more than 30 great- and great-great grandchildren. She was predeceased by another son, Zachary Erving.

Services: 2 p.m. Feb. 16 at Doyle Grove Baptist Church. Burial will be in the church cemetery.