Rising Pitt senior dies in Erie car accident

Anna Hall could see the bright side of just about anything – cleaning the dishes, spreading… Anna Hall could see the bright side of just about anything – cleaning the dishes, spreading mulch, even studying for a test.

“I never once heard anything negative come out of her mouth,” said Hall’s friend and fellow Pitt student Alyson Adam. “We could be studying, and she would tell me she had tons of fun.”

Josh Feldmiller, Hall’s roommate and friend since sixth grade, called her “one of those people that you wish you could be but couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been to have such poise and optimism all of the time.”

Hall, a 21-year-old Pitt senior-to-be, died in a car accident on the morning of July 1 in West Erie County where her family lives. She planned to return to Pitt that day and spent Saturday bidding her loved ones farewell for the remainder of the summer.

Medhi Hedjazi, Hall’s boyfriend, received a text message from her the night she died telling him how excited she was to see him the next day.

“All I know is that Anna was truly happy on the day of her passing, and that she was able to say her goodbyes,” Hedjazi said.

In addition to her seemingly unconditional optimism, friends and family all remember Hall for her kindness toward others.

Hedjazi remembers a time when he brought Hall home with him and his father needed help in the yard. Trying to be polite, the father and son told Hall to go inside and relax. She refused, and instead ended up moving mulch and cleaning up the yard.

“She was just that type of person,” Hedjazi said. “She was overly self-sacrificing and caring even when people didn’t deserve it or didn’t ask for help.”

Last year, Hall worked helping disabled children. She was a psychology major and planned to go on to graduate school and become a physical therapist.

But even with big plans for her future, it didn’t take much for Hall to be happy.

“Anna didn’t want too much in life – just to help people and have stability,” Hedjazi said.

And for her, stability consisted of working hard in school, spending time with her friends and family, talking to her mother – who she called her best friend – every day and making time to watch her favorite television show. Hall would even bribe Hedjazi with a home-cooked meal to get him to watch “Grey’s Anatomy” with her on Thursday nights.

Hall listened to an eclectic mix of rap and rock-and-roll but never any pop, said Feldmiller, and her guilty pleasure was a good movie with lots of intense drama. And she always made time for shopping.

“I knew if she wasn’t at the apartment or the library, she was definitely at the Waterfront,” said Feldmiller, who left their home decor up to Hall and her “excellent taste.”

Hall was also very close with her family – her parents, her older sister, Sara, and her younger brother, Jim. She often babysat her sister’s children and made time on weekends to travel home to Erie.

With all the right values and a goal-oriented lifestyle, Hedjazi said Hall made him – and anyone who met her – a better person.

“When I brought Anna home to meet my parents, my mom pulled her aside and told her she was too good to date her son,” he said.

Hall cherished her friends and though known to be quiet at first, she was constantly meeting new people. Colleen Hader, who was just getting to know Hall, remembers her as a person who thrived on being around friends and family.

“She was shy when you first got to know her, but after she opened up she was a really fun person to be around,” Hader said.

Sometimes, Feldmiller said, Hall spent so much time concerned with others’ happiness that she didn’t quite give herself enough credit. It was Hall’s striking beauty coupled with her intelligence that impressed everyone she encountered, he said.

“Anna would walk into the room and you would just be stunned by her presence, her beauty,” he said. “But, given a compliment, she would either laugh in your face or just roll her eyes.”

Feldmiller said the transition from high school to college allowed Hall to break out of her shell and become “comfortable in her own skin.”

And as more and more people got to know the real Hall, she gained both their respect and their love.

“She was the one person that I have met in my life that was completely trustworthy,” Hedjazi said. “And she did not deserve to lose the life she loved so much at such an early age.”