Retirement Has Arrived—

Margot Hall Packs Up Her Gavel And Her Ficus

By Shannon Hicks

“It feels a little strange, but I’ll get used to it,” retired Probate Court Judge Margot Hall said Monday afternoon.

Last Saturday, Mrs Hall attended her husband’s 50th high school reunion, celebrated her 70th birthday, and enjoyed her first day of retirement. Because of her age, Mrs Hall was forced to retire last week after nearly 20 years as Newtown’s Judge of Probate.

On Friday, September 11, she spent her final day in the building that has been her working home since 1977. What she didn’t know was that while she and Probate Clerk Peg Jepsen were toiling away in their first floor offices at Edmond Town Hall, a large group of family and friends were gathering in The Alexandria Room just one floor above them.

They pulled off a great surprise for Mrs Hall, who was lulled upstairs with a request for one final photo of the outgoing Judge of Probate near her portrait, which is included within the painted mural by David Merrill. While climbing the stairs toward the landing where her photo was to be taken, the sound of many people gathered in the upstairs room reached her. Between the noise and the unexpected appearance of her husband Bob, his own camera in hand, Mrs Hall realized that she was about to become the center of attention for a little while.

“What did you do?” she said to her husband, who only smiled and said, “Come on, they’re waiting for you.”

Prior to the surprise retirement party, Mrs Hall spent time talking with The Bee about her career and her future. She was both optimistic about her future and hopeful for her replacement.

Margot Hall became the town’s probate judge in 1990. Before that she served as probate clerk for Judge Merlin Fisk for 12 years, and before that she was an assistant clerk under Ben Blanchard for a few years.

Mrs Hall sought election for Judge of Probate in 1990, when Judge Fisk did not seek reelection for the same reason Mrs Hall has retired: maximum age requirements. To get into the office, she defeated Raymond Connor in November 1990. Mrs Hall received 5,320 votes, while her Democratic opponent collected 2,055.

Thirty-two months ago Mrs Hall she was surrounded once again by family, friends and co-workers for her final swearing-in ceremony. Having been reelected in November 2006, Mrs Hall raised her hand and promised to uphold her duties of her office on January 3, 2007. She was sworn in by former Town Clerk Cynthia Simon during a ceremony in the town hall’s Mary Hawley Room.

In the 30-plus years she has worked at Edmond Town Hall, Mrs Hall has watched while the statutes that govern the probate court have been fine tuned. One of the biggest changes during the course of her career has been the laws surrounding conservatorship.

“That was changed in ’07 and now requires a lot of detail be paid to the conserved person’s well-being,” said Mrs Hall. “The conservator has to do a lot by detailed statue. You can’t do only what you want to do, even if you mean well. It’s become a lot more complicated, but that protects the person who is being cared for.”

One of the things Mrs Hall will miss most, she said last week, is being involved with residents.

“I’m going to miss the process of helping someone’s life,” she said. “And the people here, of course. There are a lot of departments in this building, a lot of people.”

She will also miss some of the town hall’s biggest quirks, including Tuesday afternoon movie matinees.

“You have to snake your way through the lobby then,” she said with a laugh. “And I’ll miss the smell of the popcorn. Woe to you if you haven’t had lunch before the movies.”

“If the residents would vote for me, I’d still keep going,” Mrs Hall admitted, looking around her office and taking stock of the things that will eventually go with her including her gavel (“I take that to adoptions and let the kids play with it,” she said) and an 18½ year old ficus on the floor in front of her desk.

“That started out on the windowsill,” she laughed. “We’re going to get someone to come here with a truck to get that one home.”

“I would at least finish this term, then see about another,” she responded when asked if she would like to keep working had mandatory retirement not kicked in.

For the first time since 1994, a slate of candidates will be vying for the position of Newtown’s Judge of Probate this year. Mrs Hall ran unopposed for that position for her last four terms. A special election for Judge of Probate will be held when Newtown holds its municipal elections on November 10. Current Probate Clerk Peggy Jepsen (IPN), Attorney Timothy J. Holian (R) and Moira Rodgers (D) have all entered the race. While she wouldn’t name who she would like to see as her successor, Mrs Hall did say she saw positive attributes in each candidate.

“I think they all have their own qualities and the best of intentions,” she said. “You wouldn’t be running for the job if you didn’t.”

With elections still seven weeks away, a temporary successor has taken Judge Hall’s place at Edmond Town Hall.

Judge Dianne Yamin, from Danbury, will fill the vacancy in Newtown’s probate court for ten weeks, until the new judge is sworn in.

Last Friday, however, it was still time to continue working. By mid afternoon, Mrs Hall and Ms Jepsen were still filing paperwork as if it were almost any other Friday afternoon.

“Peggy has blisters on her fingers from all the typing,” Mrs Hall said with a laugh.

“She’s been taking care of a lot of paperwork today,” Ms Jepsen agreed. “She’s been ‘Let’s do this. Let’s do this. Be sure to get that done,’ and that’s not like her. She’s always been much more laid back.”

Mrs Hall isn’t worried about finding something to keep her busy now that she has time away from the office. There are countless opportunities.

For one thing, the Halls have been remodeling a home on Huntingtown Road that belonged to Bob Hall’s parents. “That’s still ongoing,” Mrs Hall said. “There’s a lot more to do there.”

There have also been offers from the couple’s children to visit, and a lot of books, papers, citations and certificates from the past two decades to sort through.

“There is a lot of paper here, accumulations from over the years,” she said looking around her office. “I have a lot of my life to sort through. I told Bob recently that a lot of my friends in the trees — the birds — are going to need some attention. Maybe I’ll find some kind of nonprofit work.

“I don’t know what I’ll do,” she said. “I have time to think about it all. I recently went to my 50th high school reunion in Bristol [Conn.] and they sent out one of those questionnaires before the event. One of the questions was ‘What do you want to do from here?’

“I didn’t answer that one. I still don’t know.”