Stake President Recognized as Father of the Year
Contributed By Kara McMurray, Church News staff writer
A recent Hall family picture includes Ladd Hall, center front, his wife, Sally, seven of their eight children, and nine of their grandchildren. Their eighth child, Cameron, is serving a mission in Colorado.
Article Highlights
- Stake President Ladd Hall received the 14th Annual American Diabetes Association Father of the Year Award.
- The purpose of the award is to recognize men who have made family a priority, while balancing a demanding career and community involvement.
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CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
Stake President Ladd Hall received the 14th Annual American Diabetes Association Father of the Year Award.
According to the American Diabetes Association website, “The purpose of this award is to recognize men that have made family a priority, while balancing a demanding career and community involvement.”
President Hall of the Charlotte North Carolina South Stake and his wife, Sally, have eight children—four daughters and four sons. They adopted all their sons from Russia; one is currently serving in the Colorado Fort Collins Mission. Five of their children are married, each in the temple.
About this honor, President Hall said, “I hope to learn more [from others] than I do [when I] teach.” However, he particularly wanted to share a message of the value of wives and mothers.
“To be a great father,” he said, “takes an awfully good wife and mother.”
President and Sister Hall have strived to raise their children with high goals and high expectations, and sometimes that includes allowing them to make mistakes and learn from them, he said. Through this, he has learned love.
“Above anything else, you’ve got to love your kids, no matter what they do,” said President Hall. With high goals and expectations, he said, “Be careful what you expect; you’ll probably get it.”
Balancing his duties as a father, husband, and stake president and in his career is difficult, he said, but it’s important to him to make sure his children know how important they are.
“It’s tough, tough, tough [to balance a] job. You never think you do enough. But you find ways to be at important things. It’s not an easy choice sometimes.”
In a video President Hall shared with the Church News, Sister Hall said of her husband, “I have watched him move mountains to try to blend schedules.” She said he always tries to be at his children’s important events.
His eight children also contributed to the video, a surprise part of the award’s program on June 20.
One of his sons said, “There is no way that I could thank [him] enough for everything [he’s] done for me. Adopting me, taking me in, raising me, teaching me all the standards we need to have a successful life and also just for being there for me and the family.”
A daughter said, “He’s literally one of the best men I know. He’s very generous. He put us kids first in so many ways. He’s the best dad I could have ever asked for.”
