Richard D. Hall

Richard Hall was born in Toronto, Canada in 1954. From an early age, he gravitated to music, and became proficient in voice and several different instruments, predominantly piano. In 1977, he graduated from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. That same year, he married Barbara Fee, who graduated in Commerce from the same class. Before graduation, Richard felt a call to Christian ministry, and so after graduation from Queen’s University, he attended Emmanuel College in Toronto, a seminary of The United Church of Canada. Three years later, he graduated with a Master of Divinity degree, and was ordained that same year into the ordered ministry of The United Church of Canada. Over his career, Richard served in Spiritwood, Saskatchewan (1980-85), Wyoming, Ontario (1985-93), Oshawa, Ontario (1993-2002), Pembroke, Ontario (2002-2010), and Wingham, Ontario (2010 to his retirement in 2019). Responding to a need for contemporary hymns that spoke to special themes, Richard began composing, publishing and recording original music set to the texts of others, predominantly The Rev. Dr. Walter Farquharson. To date, he has produced, with his wife Barb, three different hymn collections: Where Two or Three Gather, Sing Glory!, and As Long As There is Time (all published by Living Echo Publications) The most used include “Jesus Came, A Child Like Me”, a musical setting for “A New Creed”, “God Is The Giver”, “Sing Glory”, “Hands Outstretched”, “I Will Sing to the Lord (Miriam’s Song)”, and “Hope Rides High At Easter”. Richard’s other main passion is designing and leading group study tours to the Middle East and Europe to bring alive the stories of the Bible and important figures of church history. Richard & Barb have one child, Angela, born in 1986.

Richard Hall