<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0126YZ_1Gp89tPf00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0126YZ_1Gp89tPf00" width="1177" height="1336" ><figcaption>contributed photo Sophie Hall</figcaption></figure>(The following feature story is a profile of Sophie Hall of St. Joseph who has been writing occasional personal opinion columns for the Newsleaders. We would like to introduce Sophie to our readers.)It’s not many married couples who can claim they are both U.S. Navy flight-officer pilots, but Sophie and Sam Hall can claim that.For 13 years they were both Navy pilots, and Sam still is.Sophie Hall was born and raised in San Diego and attended college at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., earning a degree in political science. That is where Sam and Sophie met. Both graduated as commissioned officers, then they went to flight school in Florida. As pilots, they were stationed in Florida and in Washington.Needless to say, Sophie is a dedicated stay-at-home mom as the Halls are the parents of five children ages 10 months, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.“My 13 years in aviation were incredibly challenging but not as challenging and rewarding as being a stay-at-home mom,” Sophie said. “My children are my greatest priority along with God and country.”The Halls moved to St. Joseph two years ago because of familial connections to the greater St. Cloud/St. Joseph area. They live near Klinefelter Park. Sam’s sister, Josie (Hall) Wittrock and her family, lives in St. Joseph. And Sam’s forebears date back to the 1800s when his great-great-grandfather Mathew founded the Mathew Hall Lumber company in St. Cloud. Sam’s father is Loren Hall.“We chose St. Joseph deliberately so our children could be raised with their cousins – the Wittrocks,” Sophie said.“We fell in love with this area,” she said. “It’s so full of life and culture.”Sophie’s parents, Marge and Charles, are also about to move to St. Joseph from the Pacific Northwest. They have bought a house on Minnesota Street called the “Schindler” house, one that was built by the Pfannenstein family way back in the 1870s. Sophie plans to write a column soon about her parents and their house in St. Joseph. That house is directly across the street from Sal’s Bar &amp; Grill, near the St. Benedict Monastery.Sophie’s family on her mother’s side had very tragic, devastating endings. Sophie’s mother Marge’s relatives were hauled away to Nazi concentration camps during the Hitler regime’s widespread persecution and mass murders of Jewish people. Only a grandfather survived – a grandfather of Sophie whose mother was the daughter of that grandfather. Marge and her family emigrated from Frankfurt, Germany when she was a teenager.As a column writer, Sophie enjoys sharing her opinions in a kind of celebratory way that honors God, country, family and other people.One of her most recent columns was a celebratory ode, with many humorous remarks, to the generational tradition of visiting up-north lake cabins in summertime.“I do have strong convictions,” she said. “My life took me in directions I never expected. A great strength of this country is to be able to disagree and challenge ideas. I’m interested in a wide range of subjects. People will think what they’ll think so an opinion column might not change anyone’s mind. But I think people can sharpen their minds when rubbing up against other minds.”</div></body>

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(The following feature story is a profile of Sophie Hall of St. Joseph who has been writing occasional personal opinion columns for the Newsleaders. We would like to introduce Sophie to our readers.) It’s not many married couples who can claim they are both U.S. Navy flight-officer pilots, but Sophie...

Please welcome new columnist Sophie Hall

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(The following feature story is a profile of Sophie Hall of St. Joseph who has been writing occasional personal opinion columns for the Newsleaders. We wou

Please welcome new columnist Sophie Hall

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