Healthcare Veteran Jim Hall Passes Away

Posted April 3, 2020 at 12:53 pm




Jim Hall, 65, longtime CEO of Northwest Health Care Linen, Bellingham, WA, passed away on March 4 after a three-year battle with Glioblastoma.

Born in Eldora, Iowa, his family moved to Renton, Washington in 1957, and Hall graduated from Hazen High School in 1972. He began college at Central Washington University, but left to help his parents with their family business, St. Francis Extended Health Care in Bellingham.

Through their family’s friendship, Hall met his wife Jill. They never looked back and created a rich and full life with each other in the Bellingham community.

Hall’s dream growing up was to be an architect, but he unexpectedly found his true calling in taking care of the elderly and more vulnerable population, when he joined his family’s business.  As the youngest administrator in Washington state, he passed his nursing home administrator test at age 21 and assumed full responsibility of St. Francis Extended Health Care. At the age of 30, he and Jill worked side by side to relocate and build St. Francis in its current location, as well as created the first of its kind, intergenerational childcare anywhere in the United States.

Hall created and put into place an on-site laundry at St. Francis Extended Health Care, and in the early ’90s word spread in the surrounding communities of Jim’s high standards and the unwavering quality that he upheld in his facility. Local hospitals and clinics in the Puget Sound region began requesting that Hall expand his laundry services. As his reputation for linen service grew, other businesses began to reach out to Hall regarding his operations at St. Francis.  This led Hall to recognize a regional need for a medical-only laundry service, for which he established Northwest Health Care Linen in 1992. He signed five local hospitals, each to a 10-year contract, before he even had acquired the land or building, a clear affirmation that he and his vision were highly trusted and regarded.  In 2013, Hall and his daughter Kelsey began working side by side, and Northwest Health Care Linen became a second-generation company. In 2016 Jim’s son Evan joined the company as well.

As a businessman, Hall was known for his leadership, and his ever-evolving vision for the future. Always a forward-thinking entrepreneur, he enjoyed the challenge of anticipating and determining what his customers would need, and how he could best deliver on his promise to help make their lives easier. Forever humble in his accomplishments, he felt a genuine concern and responsibility to customers, vendors and employees alike. Not surprisingly, many called him, “My friend.”

Survivors include his wife Jill, his daughter Kelsey (Hall) Van Miert (John), son Evan Hall (Caitlin); and by his grandchildren Isabel, Lola, Otis and Sawyer and his sisters Barbara (Sam) Ham, Nancy (Bill) Rowe, and his extended family.

A celebration of Jim’s life was slated for April, but in these unprecedented times, the celebration will be scheduled for a later date. Gifts in Jim’s memory may be made as a donation to the Swedish Hospital Seattle Brain Cancer Walk, under the name “Team Hall.” Click here for details.

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