ANGIE HULL RETIRES AFTER A 50-YEAR SALVATION ARMY CAREER TO SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY
March 1972: “The Godfather” premiered in New York. President Richard Nixon was in his first term. The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by the U.S. Senate.
And it was the first day of work for The Salvation Army Midland Division’s Angie Hull, who retires on April 5, 2022, after a 50-year career of service to the Army.
“I was scared,” Hull said of her decision to retire. “It’s a big change in life. Once I took that step, it was ok.”
She added, “After 50 years, I think I’m ready. It was kind of hard to make that decision, but gotta go.”
Hull, who has worked at the Salvation Army Midland Division Headquarters in St. Louis at the front desk for 36 years, spent 14 of her 50 years as an officer for The Salvation Army before transitioning into being a staff member in 1986.
Every weekday, she sees visitors and employees come through The Salvation Army lobby, stepping over the Salvation Army polished shield on the floor on their way to making the community a better place.
“I have gone through a lot of divisional commanders, different officers, different employees,” she said. “It’s interesting how people come and go. They would always come back. Some would come back to visit. We’ve had employees who had passed away, which I felt bad about. … I have had friends who left here. Some of them wish they could come back, and some of them do come back to work again. They realize how good it is here.”
After a lifetime of service, Hull will settle well-deservedly into family time, with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Work responsibilities have kept Hull busy for years.
Her family time overlaps with her work at The Salvation Army, as several of her family members are Salvation Army officers, including her son, Dan, Jr., who is stationed in at territory headquarters in Chicago, and her retired officer sister Mary, stationed in Chicago at a Salvation Army training college.
Hull’s first memories of The Salvation Army start at age 9, when her older sister, Mary, attended a youth council program. The Army took an interest in her family, Hull said. Mary returned a “different person,” Angie said, with the feeling rubbing off on her for her plans, though she had been raised Catholic.
Angie soon felt this path was her calling.
“I felt a call of God, who wanted me to go in that direction,” she said. “I went and did what I could.”
The journey would lead to theological training and several stops over 14 years as an officer, some in corps locations and some in institutions, the latter including homes for children and pregnant women. She took a liking to the Old and New Testament classes, as a lifetime reader of the Bible.
Angie and Mary have had a strong relationship over the decades, bringing the sisters together for a cause beyond blood family. Mary was her best friend at the Army, she said.
“She prays with me when I have my bad days, and I pray with her when she has her bad days,” she said. “We both share and care for our family. When we’re together, we pray and share our experiences. We pray for people that we know.”
Angie’s first assignment was in Austin, Minn., she said, before time spent in International Falls, Minn., Omaha, and Detroit, before ending up in St. Louis, which she has called home for 42 years.
“I knew I was going to stick around when I met my husband [Dan],” she said. “I knew this was going to be my location.”
Her marriage opened Angie to a new family, as Dan had children of his own.
Preaching, providing ministry, and helping people in need who call the front desk of divisional headquarters have been among her favorite parts of her time at The Army.
“Right now, I’m in contact with one of the ladies who has gone through tragic [situations],” Hull said. “She calls me and lets me know how she’s doing, and I call her to check up on her and see how she’s doing. I have prayed with her. We have cried together. I’ve never met her, and she’s never met me, but we still talk, and we share.”
That relationship started over the Christmas season when the woman with a horrific story. A church had denied assistance to the woman on Dec. 23. The woman adopted her grandchildren after her daughters (and the girls' mothers) were murdered.
The Salvation Army, led by Assistant Divisional Social Services Director LaKeysha Fields, arranged logistics for the kids to get a last-minute merry Christmas with gifts.
“[The woman] got stuff that her kids needed,” Hull said. “She got stuff that she didn’t realize she would get. She got food, clothing, and things. She thanked me, and she cried.”
Reflecting on her time at the front desk, Hull said, "I feel like I've accomplished a lot talking with people, just praying with them. Before I start every day, I always pray that God will help me to say the right words to the right people and help me to remember that they are people in need, and not people that call just because they want to call. Always try to be cheerful, even though I'm having bad days. I want to make people feel that they are important. That's it. I like to make people feel they're important, and they're not just another number."
