A Visit with Marty Hall and Kathy

A Visit with Marty Hall and Kathy

September 13, 2022

Last week got an email from Marty asking if Anita and I had time to have lunch at their new place in Laconia, NH. Since their move from Canada, Marty and Kathy had been living in Dover.

On Friday, September 9, we drove to Laconia. They have a fantastic place on a hillside above Lake Winnisquam, and on the other side of the hill is Lake Winnipesaukee. It’s a lovely area and next door is the town of Gilford where Marty and Olympic XC skier and educator Dick Taylor grew up.

Marty was the coach at six Olympics, and he has a magnificent coffee table with Olympic mementoes embedded in the table from Sapporo, Innsbruck, Sarajevo, Calgary, Albertville and Lillehammer.

It’s kind of amazing that a little town like Gilford, NH would have two such prominent figures in the world of XC skiing and that they were also classmates. As Kathy and Marty showed us the house, I spotted a picture of some very young school kids in their basketball uniforms and Kathy said the one holding the trophy was Marty. Two places to the left of Marty, at the end of the bench, was Dick Taylor. Dick was a sophomore at Dartmouth when I was a senior. Marty, Dick, and I are now octogenarians and seeing Marty and Dick in this classic old picture awakened a lot of memories. Just had to share the picture of Dick and Marty and the coffee table with those who visit our blog.     -Len Johnson