Kenneth Wayne Hall
I first met Ken in college, when we were both hired as DJs for the new on-campus nightclub in 1978.
Ken learned basic DJ skills in radio during his Junior College days, and honed them as a dance DJ with the college crowd in UTA’s pub in the Student Center basement.
We became good friends and started working parties together in the Party Machine‘s early years.
Ken's byline photo for the Corsicana Daily Sun, where he wrote a popular column
When asked to do our first 30-Hour Dance-A-Thon for the American Cancer Society, Ken was quick to step up, and volunteer to DJ for multiple shifts. We did Dance-A-Thons for 14 years, and Ken continued to volunteer for the cause of Cancer Control every year.
Ironically, it was cancer that ended his life prematurely.
In addition to being a DJ, Ken was a musician, a comedian, a writer, a scholar and a gentleman. He played the baritone sax, and could tell a joke better than anyone. At parties, people would actually request that Ken re-tell their favorite jokes.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Ken moved back to his hometown of Corsicana to care for his aging parents. He worked for the local newspaper, writing a column on various topics, from sports to local history. Ken was a quick study, and became an expert in whatever caught his interest. He loved sports and science fiction, and was a source of local history knowledge, especially Black History in Navarro County, which was often the subject of his column in the Daily Sun. Ken was comfortable in a conversation about almost any topic.
Ken was the best friend I ever had who was African American. I learned from him that life is too short to tolerate prejudice, and that friendship is the true treasure of life.
We will meet again in the great DJ Booth in the sky. Until then…you came in style, you came with class…
