'When it's time, it's time'

Mount Pleasant mayor remains upbeat, intends to continue to serve on a month-to-month basis as long as he is able.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Prior to his diagnosis of early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, Mayor Harry Hallman was suspicious of people, and thought they might come after him, said his wife, Brooke Hallman.

He would forget where in the house he left things. He got lost on his way home from the airport and had trouble working phones, ATMs and gas pumps. He stopped playing golf, and stayed on the sofa all weekend. He had seven sets of keys made because he kept losing them. He wouldn't respond to questions.

Brook Hallman made an appointment with a doctor for an evaluation.

Six months ago, the Hallmans were told that his symptoms suggested Alzheimer's disease. Harry Hallman wanted to know how long he had to be productive. The doctor had no definite answer. It could be six weeks, six months or six years.

"The doctor told him he'd probably come closer to getting hit by a car than dying of Alzheimer's," Brooke Hallman said.

When they got the news, Harry Hallman knew he faced a decision. "That's a serious blow. I could sit on the front porch with a Bible ... or get up and be proactive about it. I've never been a quitter," he said.

On Tuesday he revealed his diagnosis in a recorded video message played at a Town Council meeting.

He went public to put the rumor mill to rest, and so he would no longer have to skirt the issue.

"I prayed over how I would handle this thing last week," he said. "I've never been one to hide from any issue. My wife urged me to be up front."

Brooke Hallman said that, initially, people close to the mayor who knew about his diagnosis before it was made public thought he should resign from the post he has held for nearly eight years. His term runs through November 2009. They didn't want him to lose his dignity, she said.

After consulting with Town Administrator Mac Burdette, Brooke Hallman said a compromise was reached. The mayor would reveal his diagnosis at the council meeting and continue in office on a month-to-month basis. "It's in God's hands," she said.

Harry Hallman said he would rely on friends and family to tell him when it's time to resign. In the meantime, he remains upbeat. "If you are on top of things, you don't have time to worry about the future. When it's time, it's time. I'll be ready," he said Friday.

He is taking the medications Aricept and Namenda. They help with the symptoms of Alzheimer's, slowing the decline and helping with cognitive functions. "These medicines are not a cure. He's not declined any," Brooke Hallman said.

Harry Hallman regularly goes to his Town Hall office, where he reads three newspapers and stays busy on the phone.

"I feel great. I think I function pretty well. I just want my legacy to be positive ... and about helping people," he said.

He has stopped driving, which Brooke Hallman said is a hard thing to give up. She purchased a Jitterbug cell phone for him because of its simplicity.

Harry Hallman is prepared to step aside if the time comes, but he will stay on as mayor as long as he can be productive. "I don't want to be hanging around here just to be hanging around," he said. The town is in the capable hands of Mayor Pro-Tem Kruger Smith, administrator Burdette and Clerk of Council Barbara Ashe, Hallman said.

Hallman has joined the Purple Ribbon Alzheimer's Task Force at the invitation of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, head of the state's Office on Aging.

During an interview at his office, Hallman sat at the round table where he has negotiated countless deals on behalf of the town. He talked enthusiastically of the town's $50 million in road projects and the newly renovated Congressional Medal of Honor Museum on the aircraft carrier Yorktown. He recalled the great time he had as a member of the state House of Representatives from 1988 to 1996.

The Hallmans, who are both 73, have been married 52 years. In 1990 they lost a 29-year-old son, Robbie Hallman, to suicide. Harry Hallman recalled that in the wake of that tragedy, the first person who visited him was the late Gov. Carroll Campbell Jr., who was told in 2001 that he had symptoms of Alzheimer's. Campbell died in 2005 at age 65.

"We still don't know for sure what happened," Hallman said of his son. "I'm convinced that folks who do that are not rational at the time. If only they would think of the folks they leave behind."

Hallman also recalled being in a helicopter with evangelist Billy Graham as part of an entourage surveying damage from Hurricane Hugo in 1989. They landed on Sullivan's Island near Fort Moultrie, where Graham conducted an impromptu service at Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church. "I would say that I felt humbled by that experience. You gotta have faith," Hallman said.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at pfindlay@postandcourier.com or 937-5711.

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