May 11, 1933 to March 29, 2025
Barbara Ann Hall, a pillar in the San Marco community and champion of the San Marco Preservation Society, passed away on March 29.
Barbara was born on May 11, 1933, to George and Marie Bruck and called Jacksonville her lifelong home. She graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in 1951. That same year, she married Kirkland Alderman, her high school sweetheart, and she went on to obtain her associate’s degree at FCCJ.
Barbara spent several years as the secretary at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church before working as an executive secretary at S. Regis Paper Company. After nearly 20 years of marriage, Kirkland passed away in 1970. It would be another nine years before Barbara married Palmer Hall and became the co-owner of Palmer Hall Floors.
When Palmer passed away in 1999, Barbara continued running the family business with her children until she eventually closed the business and retired in 2006.
San Marco always held a special place in Barbara’s heart, and that was evident in her heavy and steadfast involvement in the San Marco Preservation Society, which spanned more than 30 years. Twenty of those years were spent serving as SMPS secretary, from 1986 to 2006.
Barbara was instrumental in the 1995 acquisition of the Gothic Carpenter Church, which today resides in Fletcher Park and is known as Preservation Hall. The church had to be transported there – which involved floating it down the St. Johns River from its Northbank location at the Museum of Science and History. Barbara sat on a six-person committee overseeing the church’s care and renovation. When Stockton Cottage was relocated to the site in 2004, Barbara took charge of both buildings, from supervising the rental staff to overseeing building care and maintenance, holding the title of Preservation Hall committee chairperson.
Barbara was given the title of SMPS Director Emeritus in 2005.
“Barbara went above and beyond her duties in every activity she was a part of,” said SMPS Past President Robin Robinson. “They simply couldn’t have done it without her because she handled so many things.”
Barbara resigned from the board and moved out of San Marco in 2018.
Outside of her involvement with SMPS, Barbara was also involved in the San Marco Garden Circle, building on her passion for gardening to become a University of Florida Master Gardener.
In her later years, Barbara married Pat Elmore and moved to Cypress Village after leaving San Marco. Throughout her life, her Christian faith never wavered, and she was a member of several churches. She grew up in Main Street Baptist Church and raised her children in Murray Hill Baptist and Hendricks Avenue Baptist churches. She would go on to be a member of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church and St. Andrew’s Lutheran By the Sea.
Barbara is survived by her children, The Rev. Ann Marie Alderman (Robin); David Wayne Alderman; Susan Ruth Alderman; and Kittie Hall France (Scott); her seven grandchildren – Jessica, Amanda, Kate, Jenny, Ella, Kirk and Benjamin – and six great-grandchildren.
