Van Beck Hall grew up in small towns in West Virginia and Ohio and graduated from Oberlin College and later the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he earned his doctorate in History. He was in the US Air Force in the late 1950's where he met his wife, Paula, and they have two children, William and Elizabeth. Van Beck currently teaches at the University of Pittsburgh and particularly enjoys teaching classes on the Civil War. He came to First Baptist Church in the 1980's and joined because he was asked to be a member of the Board of Trustees. He currently serves as the president of the Board of Trustees and chairs the planning committee. He has participated in the Global Links service project twice with the young adults, hosted the young adults for a Progressive Dinner and serves as a regular coffee hour host. In his spare time, he enjoys reading military history but has yet to read about a war he would like to be in.