Oldest house rep, WWII pilot dead

AUSTIN, Texas - Former Texas congressman Ralph Hall, the oldest-ever member of the U.S. House and a WWII Hellcat pilot, has died at age 95 at his home in Rockwall on May 7, according to Ed Valentine, Hall's longtime strategist. Hall was 91 when he left the House after being defeated in a 2014 Republican primary runoff election. An avid jogger, Hall marked Memorial Day 2012 – at age 89 - by skydiving to honor American service members. That Christmas, he became the oldest member of Congress' lower chamber, breaking the record set by North Carolina Rep. Charles Manly Stedman, who died in office when he was 89 years, 7 months and 25 days old. Ralph Moody Hall was born on May 3, 1923, in the Dallas suburb of Fate. He attended Texas Christian University and the University of Texas before earning a law degree at Southern Methodist University in 1951. Hall joined the Navy at 19. He married Mary Ellen Murphy in November 1944, while serving in pilot training at (NAS) Pensacola, Fla. (Source: Associated Press 03/07/19)