William C. Hall, a retired nuclear engineer and Teledyne Energy Systems Inc. marketing manager who was an active Episcopal churchman, died May 25 from a blood disorder at Gilchrist Center Towson.

The Edenwald retirement community resident was 87.

“Bill was a cheerful bright man who had a lot of energy, and that was evident in his many different tasks for the church and the world,” said the Rev. P. Kingsley Smith, former rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Towson.

“He had an affability that enabled him to get along with all kinds of people from all walks of life. He was a very open person.” said Father Smith, a Riderwood resident who was rector of Trinity for 40 years, before retiring in 1995.

William Carroll Hall, the son of Edward Jenison Hall, a carpenter, and his wife, Evelyn Esther Dickey Hall, a bookkeeper, was born in Lowell, Mass., and raised in nearby Dracut, Mass.

After graduating in 1949 from Dracut High School, he entered the Naval Academy, where he managed the gymnastics team and was assistant editor of The Log, the midshipmen’s magazine.

Commissioned a naval officer in 1953, Mr. Hall served aboard the cruiser USS Salem, the USS John Paul, a destroyer, and the USS Truckee, a fleet oiler.

In 1957, the Navy sent Mr. Hall to the Nuclear Power Training School in Idaho Falls, Idaho, which trained personnel to serve on nuclear-powered surface ships, such as the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which was the Navy’s first nuclear-powered carrier, and the USS Long Beach, a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser.

While in Iowa, Mr. Hall met and fell in love with his future wife, Mary Pierpont Riley, who worked summers at Yellowstone National Park and decided to remain in the West where she taught school.

The couple, who both attended St. John’s Episcopal Church in Idaho Falls, were introduced by the church’s rector, and married in 1958.

“He had tremendous loyalty his country and the Navy,” Father Smith said. “We’re both old salts and talk the same language. I had been a Navy chaplain, and whenever I’d see Bill, I’d say, ‘At ease, sailor,’ and we’d laugh.”

After retiring from the Navy in 1961, Mr. Hall moved to Baltimore and took a job in the Martin Co.’s Nuclear Division, and spent time in the Antarctic and Sundance, Wyo., where the company had nuclear reactors.

In 1968, he went to Houston to work on Martin’s Offshore Systems, and then returned to Baltimore two years later when he was named marketing manager for Teledyne Energy Systems Inc., a division of Teledyne Technologies Co.

“Bill was fluent in French, which was helpful in his worldwide travels with Teledyne,” said his wife, who is known as Pont.

Mr. Hall, a former longtime resident of Corbett Road in Monkton, where he and his wife had lived since 1970, was an active communicant of Trinity Episcopal Church, where he taught Sunday school and regularly attended Sunday morning adult forums.

He chaired the organ restoration committee and sang in the church choir for 25 years. He was a member of the vestry and property committee.

Mr. Hall enjoyed giving tours of the Allegheny Avenue church to newcomers and pointing out its four Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass windows that date to the 1890s, and those from J & R Lamb Studios, which he had thoroughly researched and written about.

After retiring, Mr. Hall began volunteering more than 30 years ago at Trinity’s Surprise Shop, its consignment and thrift shop, which raises money for the homeless and less fortunate, and was a member of its Thursday volunteer group.

“He did a lot of work for the church, including the Surprise Shop that was founded by women in the church’s former rectory,” Father Smith said. “He brought a great deal to the shop and helped oversee and organize its renovation and made sure that work got done.”

He also had served as the shop’s chair and was the only man to hold that position, family members said.

Mr. Hall and his wife suffered a tragedy when their son, Richard G. Hall, died in 2007.

“Bill’s faith was unshakable, and he put his faith to work at a time of great testing,” Father Smith said. “It was a very sad time. He could have become bitter, but he did not. He remained a steady guardian for his family.”

Mr. Hall, who had lived at Edenwald for the past decade, enjoyed travel and reading. When he was younger, he liked to refinish furniture.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at his church, 120 Allegheny Ave., Towson.

In addition to his wife of 61 years, he is survived by his daughter, Anne P. Mitchell of Naples, Fla.; a sister, Marilyn Caveney of Dracut; and three grandchildren.

fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com