Wilbur Ellison Hall

Wilbur Ellison Hall, 85, of Otway, passed away on Monday, December 11^th, 2023, at Brookdale in Morehead City. He was surrounded by loved ones when he was called to his heavenly home to meet his Savior and be reunited with his wife Elena.

A funeral service to honor Wilbur’s life will be held at 2 p.m., Sunday, December 17^th at Munden Funeral Home, officiated by Rev. James Chadwick. Interment, with military honors, will follow at Gethsemane Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., Saturday, December 16^th at Munden Funeral Home. For those unable to attend, the service can be viewed through his obituary page on Munden Funeral Home’s website. The service will remain on the Funeral Home website for 90 days.

Wilbur was born on January 27th, 1938, in Charleston, West Virginia, to the late Matilda and Shannon Hall. Entering the US Marine Corps in 1956, he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California where he met Chicago native and fellow Marine, Elena Flores on a blind date to the San Diego Zoo. Just one month later January 1, 1959, God joined them together in marriage. For 63 years the country boy and city girl shared a life of love that would lead to 6 children, 16 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren.

Wilbur and Elena moved a few times during Wilbur's service in the Marine Corps, finally settling in North Carolina.  In 1966, they bought their first home in Newport, and then in 1984, they moved to Otway, which would be their final home.

During his time as a Marine, he became an avid golfer with several hole-in-ones to his name and won many tournaments. But his greatest days golfing was with his two sons, grandsons, and friends at the Links in Craven County. In 1975 Wilbur retired from the Marine Corps after 20 years of service and many tours overseas including a deployment to Vietnam. At retirement, Wilbur bought a shrimp boat as he had fallen in love with the waters of Carteret County. He became a commercial fisherman and shared this new love with his children who he taught the ways of fishing, clamming, oystering, and shrimping.

With this love of the waters, he also became a master decoy carver learning from other skilled carvers in the Down East community. He enjoyed getting to know the other collectors, but again, his greatest joy was sharing this time with his children.

Wilbur had an affinity for jokes and loved to laugh with his family, especially his grandchildren. His favorite jokes were the ones that took a minute for his wife Elena to understand. The last year of Wilbur’s (aka Wilburt) life was spent at Brookdale Memory Care in Morehead City. The staff that cared for him came to know and love his witty spirit and energy in moving furniture.

With all of this, Wilbur would tell anyone the greatest thing he ever did was accepting Jesus as his Savior. Not long after this, he was called to preach. From that point forward, he spent the rest of his life serving the Lord with his wife. Together they pastored several churches including Otway Free Will Baptist and started a church in North River named Down East Open-Door Fellowship. The last church Wilbur served as pastor was Edward’s Chapel in South River. Through the years he gained many brothers and sisters in Christ and was always ready in season and out of season to talk about his Lord.

Those remaining to cherish his memory are his sons, Shannon Hall (Toni) of Trinity, NC, and Mark Hall (Tina) of Thomasville, NC; daughters, Vicky Pohoresky of Otway, NC, Pamela Davis (Louis) of Otway NC, and Melissa Duvall (Alan) of Fort Worth, Texas; sixteen grandchildren; nineteen great-grandchildren; sisters, Trish Bennett of Watkinsville, GA, Marilyn Miller of Newnan, GA, Mary Jane Evanchuck of Bethlehem, PA, and Dorothy Hall of Newport, NC; brother-in-law, Raul Flores (Lupe) of Chicago, IL, sisters-in-law, Irene Orozco (Frank) of Chicago, IL, and Juanita Slater (LeRoy) of Queen Creek, Arizona; many nieces and nephews, and close friend/decoy enthusiast Benny Woodard.

In addition to his parents and his father’s second wife Erma Hall, Wilbur was preceded in death by his loving wife of 63 years, Elena Flores Hall; daughter, Matilda Hall Balance; brothers, Bob Hall, Bob Miller, and Jim Bennett; father and mother-in-law, Hilario and Victoria Flores; sister-in-law, Patricia Rubio; brother-in-law Salvador Flores, of Chicago, IL; son-in-law, Carl Balance; and granddaughter, Aralyn Setliff.

The family wishes to express sincere gratitude to the staff of Brookdale Memory Care; Gentiva Hospice; the staff of Sherry Kent FNP; and caregiver Gemma who greatly enriched the last six months of Wilbur’s life.

As an expression of sympathy, memorial contributions may be made to Edwards Chapel Free Will Baptist Church, 1430 South River Rd., Beaufort, NC 28516. To honor his memory, you may also go and visit a shut-in at home or in a facility as this was also something that Wilbur and Elena did in their ministry.

Family and friends are welcome to submit online condolences at www.mundenfuneralhome.net.

Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home & Crematory in Morehead City, NC.