Dede Morgan Woodward (Hall)

 

A soft spoken Southern Belle, Dede spent her childhood dreaming in the garden and groves of her family's sprawling estate in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Secluded, Dede Morgan Woodward spent many summers cultivating an appreciation for the outdoors and the particular humid climate of the region. Unimpressed with her classmates and teachers, she was fond of selecting texts from her father's library and losing herself to the fantastical stories and rich characters of times past.

 

After high school she met a young man who promised to take her away from her lackadaisical world but her father made short order of his affection by repeatedly calling him by the wrong name and dismissing his every effort to win her over. At 24 she discovered the works of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton which had a profound effect on her. Nearly obsessed with the poet Plath on her own growing sense of desperation, she took to writing in journals every imaginable thought she had on subjects as diverse as virginity and atheism.

 

Later Dede found herself drawn to the West coast. She sold all of her possessions and collected her growing library of personal journals and moved to the Berkeley hills. She quickly met and was welcomed into a local artists community where she spent her time writing and tutoring others. On a random walk in Strawberry Canyon, she came upon Henry Hall who at once captivated her and perplexed her at the same time. A handsome man, she seemed to steal the very words out of his mind and at that moment she felt at last connected to someone.

 

They married in six months and she became pregnant immediately with their first child, Jessie Morgan Hall.