“I don’t know that she could have survived anywhere but Provincetown,” said Cecilia Hall’s sister Ann. Plagued by physical and psychological disabilities dating back to infancy, Cecilia had a strong will and an independent spirit. “She would not be told what to do,” said her longtime friend, protector, and advocate Maghi Geary.
Cecilia died at Seashore Point in Provincetown of unspecified causes on Feb. 7, 2023. She was 78.
Known for more than 40 years as “the bird lady of Provincetown,” Cecilia “was a fixture in town,” said Maghi, often photographed by tourists and “living on her own terms.”
During her extended, slow decline, “not being able to care for herself drained her spirit,” Maghi added. “Put me on hospice,” Cecilia said.
“She finished on her own terms,” Maghi said. “I love you so much, Maghi,” were her last words.
The daughter of the late Jesse and Mary (Kennedy) Hall, Cecilia was born on Dec. 8, 1944 in Galveston, Texas. Her father was a navigator in the Air Force and her mother a Naval officer decoder who had to leave the service after she became pregnant with Cecilia.
At the end of World War II, her father took a job with the FBI and relocated the family to Arlington, Va. He specialized in bank robberies and eventually headed the FBI’s Arlington office. Her father was Cecilia’s hero, Maghi said.
According to Ann, the family started vacationing at Topside in Truro in 1955 “because they had to be far enough away from the FBI office so they would not call Daddy back during his vacation.”
When Cecilia was 13 months old, she contracted encephalitis and measles; that combined with a brain operation in her early teens accounted for her lifelong seizure disorder and psychological challenges. Nonetheless, she graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington in 1962.
The family moved to Truro in 1972, and Cecilia married the following year. The marriage was turbulent and unhappy, Ann said, and her husband abandoned her while she was pregnant with her daughter, Karen, born in 1976. Because of the frequency of Cecilia’s seizures, her parents raised Karen and took her with them when they retired to Florida in 1984.
Cecilia elected to stay in Provincetown, moving into the town’s affordable housing complex on Harry Kemp Way. In Provincetown, “Cecilia found her way by being out in town, walking everywhere,” said Maghi. “She was seen all over in her colorful garb and hat covered in buttons of causes she cared about. Strangers did not remain strangers to Cecilia.”
Cecilia also worked in the town gardens and had a special love for the library, where she “barked,” bringing tourists in to see the Rose Dorothea.
She made special efforts to help local shopkeepers. Steve Katz, who owned a rubber stamp business, remembered how she would come into his shop to organize the stamps; she also helped out at Far Land Provisions. One day, Maghi said, “She roamed into my flower shop on Bradford Street and asked, ‘Can I help you? Can I weed your garden?’ ” That was the start of a long friendship.
Cecilia was best known for feeding Provincetown’s pigeons. She would take leftover bread from Napi’s, go to Lopes Square, and sit on the anchor. She would be surrounded by pigeons, with some perching on her.
Some local shopkeepers did not appreciate her bird feeding, and when Cecilia was ordered to stop, she was “hopping mad,” said Maghi.
Maghi became responsible for more and more of Cecilia’s care and was her advocate. “I understood her difficulties,” Maghi said. “I admired her most days, and some days I wanted to strangle her.”
Despite myriad physical and mental handicaps, Cecilia thrived in Provincetown, which supported her in many ways. In her declining years, Relief Home Health visited every day, and staff at Outer Cape Health Services, the Provincetown and Lower Cape ambulance squads, Elder Services, and the Provincetown Council on Aging all pitched in to care for her.
She loved her church, St. Mary of the Harbor, and attended with Maghi as often as possible. Seashore Point’s rehab facility took a special interest in her. The staff, nurses, and other caregivers were lovely to her when she moved there, Maghi said, adding special thanks to the women at Beacon Hospice who made Cecilia’s death much easier.
She is survived by two sisters, Ann Hall Malan of Arvada, Colo. and Jessica Hall of California; her daughter, Karen Walker of Florida; and her niece and nephews, Noel, Mary, and Jesse.
A memorial service will be held at St. Mary of the Harbor in Provincetown at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 31.
