Thinking about Hal and Hall

If you know Mary Ann and Bill Sigler, feel free to call them today to tell them you were thinking of their son, Hal. They won’t mind.

Or you might consider touching base with Mary Horner about her son, Hall. She’ll understand.

Because we have a such a societal dread of death, we often think that those who have lost loved ones simply want to forget about it. Therefore, we’re afraid to bring the subject up, as if the old adage “out of sight, out of mind” truly applied.

Certainly, this week is a painful anniversary for the Siglers, Mary Horner and the siblings and friends of Hal Sigler and Hall Sykes. But that doesn’t mean they want to go through it alone.

So on April 18-19, something remarkable will happen at the Sedalia Center near Big Island. Instead of a somber remembrance of Hal and Hall, dozens of their friends have put together the Ad Astra Music Festival in their honor — memories, stories, food, beer and a long and varied list of bands.

“Hal and Hall are going to love it,” said Hall’s sister Mimi.

On April 8 of 2008, Hal was killed by a train, his death ruled a suicide. The next day, Mary Horner drove to Hampden-Sydney College to pick up Hall, who had been visiting friends there, finding him badly bruised and complaining of head pain. Several days later, he also died.

“He didn’t remember what happened,” Horner said, “and no one else could tell us.”

These were young men in their early 20s, on the cusp of making their own way in the world.

And the quick succession of their deaths was a gut-wrenching blow to a wide circle of acquaintances. In Lynchburg, news — and pain — travels fast.

“Something like this reminds everyone that life is tenuous,” said the Rev. Michael Sullivan, who knew both Hal and Hall at St. John’s Episcopal Church. “We shouldn’t worry about the length of our time here, but the quality of it.”

There were some marked similarities between Hal, who graduated from E.C. Glass High School, and Hall, who attended Virginia Episcopal School. Both left Lynchburg for large universities in the deeper South — Hal to Clemson, Hall to the University of Mississippi.

“He (Hall) went down there because of the fraternity system,” said Mimi Sykes. “And the girls.”

After a year, Hall transferred to a smaller school in Colorado to indulge a new interest in snowboarding, then back to Ole Miss, then returned to Lynchburg and Central Virginia Community College.

Hal, whose passion was golf, spent a year at Clemson before Lynchburg drew him back.

His obituary said he died “of a long illness,” and that was quite accurate. His final encounter with the train was only the last step in a life-long battle with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Hall, by all accounts, was merely trying to find the door that would open into the rest of his life.

Whatever their challenges and struggles, however, both obviously had friends.

“I had been close friends with Hal,” said Reid Peters, one of the Ad Astra organizers, “but then later, when he started having his problems, we kind of drifted apart. A lot of people had the same experience and felt kind of guilty about it, but it’s just sort of the nature of the beast.

“Hall and I became close the two years before he died. A bunch of us were in town for Hal’s funeral, and I remember we were all over at Meriwether’s when we got a call that Hall had been taken to the hospital, but that he was going to be fine.”

Ad Astra was a sort of follow-up to “Fire on the Mountain,” another Sedalia event that had been held to honor Alex Carrington, who also died young.

“We came up with this little ‘H’ sticker for Hal and Hall,” said Sean Bryant, one of the Ad Astra organizers, “and they’ve already been posted all over the world, literally, because people have taken them with them on trips. Amsterdam, Greece, you name it. So if you see one, that’s what it’s about.”

Bands will include Farm Vegas, Harwell Grice, Work Release, Corleone, Ample Example and Chris Tunkel. Camping is free on Saturday night. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the gate.

“I was really impressed with how organized this group was,” said Jane Gross of the Sedalia Center, which is renting out the facility. “They had everything set up in advance.”

“We wanted to do this right in every way,” said Peters. “We even have security around the clock. We don’t expect any problems, but you never know.”

“I’m just amazed and bowled over by what these kids have done,” said Bill Sigler. “And grateful. It means so much that Hal hasn’t been forgotten.”