Albert and Hilya Hall Seniors Enhancement Fund

Established in 2013 as the Albert Hall Seniors Enhancement Fund in memory of Albert, this fund has been renamed the Albert and Hilya Hall Seniors Enhancement Fund to also honour Hilya following her passing at the age of 94 in 2024.

Born in Edmonton in 1930, Albert was lured North in 1952 to work at Giant Yellowknife Mines. Hilya was born in 1930 on a small homestead in Northern Alberta. In 1953, she was offered a job in Yellowknife at the Giant Mine cafeteria, where she met Alberta. A common love for sports, outdoor adventures, and partying with friends brought them together, and they married later that year and together, raised four boys.

Active was Albert’s middle name. He loved and respected the outdoors, whether boating, fishing, guiding, hunting, gardening, or cutting firewood. He took his sons with him and taught them the way. He was also big into sports. In Yellowknife he played with the Giant Grizzlies hockey team in the Gerry Murphy Arena and the company fastball team at Tommy Forrest Ballpark. Curling caught his interest and he excelled, skipping the NWT team twice at the Canadian Seniors Curling Championships.

Volunteering was always a big part of Albert’s life: refereeing minor hockey for many years; advocating for residents and youth as President of the NWT Anglers and Hunters Association; helping the Polar Bear Swim club with races and fund raising; serving as President of the Giant Curling Club for years where he made the ice, organized legendary social bonspiels, travelled the NWT mining bonspiel circuit, and taught kids how to curl on Saturday mornings. Hilya was active in the community as a volunteer at charities and organizations like the Order of Royal Purple, for which she was extremely proud.

Hilya and Albert enjoyed retirement in Kelowna for 20 years. During their early retirement years, Albert volunteered with Newcomers, an organization to welcome and help people moving to Kelowna, helped out at Kelowna Curling Club events and was a founding member with the Kelowna Six, the three couples who started the Yellowknife reunion held annually in Kelowna. He also remained active in sports by golfing, skipping a team in the Senior Men’s Curling League, and playing fastball in the B.C. Seniors Games. Gardening and landscaping continued to be an important part of both Hilya and Albert’s life.

Albert and Hilya moved back ‘home’ to Yellowknife in 2006, and Albert passed away in 2013 after a courageous battle with Parkinson’s. Hilya continued to help her senior friends where she stayed at AVENS, and, she grew beautiful flowers in front of Aven Ridge and on her deck every summer. 

The Fund will support seniors’ recreational activities at facilities administered by Avens – A Community for Seniors. Grants from the Fund will be made to Avens to support a wide variety of indoor and outdoor activities and to purchase equipment intended to promote physical activity and well-being among seniors.

The Albert and Hilya Hall Seniors Enhancement Fund has been established to enhance the quality of life for seniors in the City of Yellowknife through a wide variety of indoor and outdoor activities and to purchase equipment intended to promote physical activity and well-being among seniors.