Visitation, Funeral Set for Ralph Hall

EAST TEXAS — Funeral services will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, March 16, at First United Methodist Church in Rockwall for longtime Congressman Ralph Hall. Visitation will take place from 6:00 to 8:00pm on Friday, March 15, at Rest Haven Funeral Home, also in Rockwall. Hall’s longtime strategist, Ed Valentine, says the Texas Republican died of natural causes at his home in Rockwall Thursday morning. The oldest-ever member of the U.S. House was 95. Hall became the oldest member of the U.S. House in 2012, breaking North Carolina Rep. Charles Manly Stedman’s record. Hall was 91 when he left office in 2014. Hall was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1980. He became a Republican in 2004, backed by his friend, George W. Bush. Hall won the 2012 Republican primary despite a tea party challenge. But he lost in a primary upset in 2014.