On the 4300 block of Hall Street stands a home that has quietly witnessed some of the most compelling personal stories in Perry Heights.
From an All-America football player who defied physical limitations, to a mid-century Dallas matriarch, to a devoted bond between two men that lasted over forty years — 4311 Hall reflects the evolving character of the neighborhood itself.
The Neely Years
In the early 20th century, 4311 Hall became home to Eugene Gentry “Gene” Neely and his family.
Born in 1896 in Comanche, Texas, Neely lost his right arm in a teenage hunting accident. Despite that life-altering injury, he became an All-America football guard at Dartmouth College in 1917 — a nationally reported achievement at the time.
He later returned to Texas, coached at the Terrill School (now St. Mark’s School of Texas), and built a career in securities and federal housing administration in Dallas.
When he died in 1949, newspapers listed his residence as 4311 Hall Street.
Nell Neely and Her Children
After the death of Eugene G. Neely, the steady presence at 4311 Hall was his wife, Nell Irene Orand Neely. Born in 1900, Nell maintained the household for decades and remained in the home until 1970, guiding the family through the mid-century years when Perry Heights matured into one of Dallas’s most established neighborhoods.
Their children, Adele and Stanley Neely, both grew up at 4311 Hall and went on to lead accomplished lives shaped by education, service, and civic leadership.
Adele Neely Locke Seybold (1919–2014) graduated from North Dallas High School and The University of Texas, where she was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and president of Pi Beta Phi. She later married Eugene Murphy Locke, a prominent Dallas attorney who served as U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan and Deputy U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam — experiences that took her abroad during the 1960s. After his death, she became deeply involved in civic and philanthropic work in Dallas, serving on numerous cultural and medical boards and supporting organizations such as M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Dallas Museum of Art.
Her brother, Stanley E. Neely (1918–1998), also attended the University of Texas, where he was student body president and played on the Longhorn football team. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he became a prominent Dallas attorney and partner in one of the city’s leading law firms, continuing a family tradition of leadership and civic involvement.
Together, Nell and her children represent an era when 4311 Hall was a home grounded in stability, education, and quiet ambition — values that shaped both the family and the neighborhood around them.
Life Behind the Scenes
Census records indicate the Neelys employed live-in help, including a young cook and yardman named Stanley Wilson, age 20. His presence reminds us that the story of Perry Heights includes not only homeowners, but also those whose labor quietly sustained these homes and their grounds.
Nell Neely remained at 4311 Hall until her death in September of 1970.
4301 Hall and the Semmes Family
Next door, 4301 N. Hall Street was home to a large Dallas family through the 1960s and 1970s. In 1977, during a series of fires later attributed to the so-called Oak Lawn arsonist, the house was destroyed by fire.
The family had initially planned to rebuild, but neighbor Lloyd Otto — then owner of 4311 Hall — offered to purchase the lot, including the cost of clearing the burned structure. The offer allowed the family to relocate, and the property was incorporated into the grounds of 4311 Hall in 1978, permanently expanding the backyard that exists today.
One reminder of the earlier home remains: the original garage at 4301 survived the fire and was later remodeled by Lloyd Otto. For those who grew up there, the lot remains part of a deeply personal story — a place filled with childhood memories, Holy Trinity School and Church connections, and the life of a large Dallas family rooted on Hall Street.
Rather than subdivision or redevelopment, the decision preserved open space and permanently expanded the grounds of 4311 — a quiet act of stewardship that shaped the property as it exists today.
The Otto–Noonan Era
After the Neely chapter closed, the house entered a long and deeply personal era under Lloyd Thompson Otto and the love of his life, James Meenan Noonan, Jr.
Lloyd, an SMU graduate and longtime insurance executive, purchased the home and shared it with James for more than four decades. Lloyd founded a successful insurance business. He and another insurance associate built an award-winning designed offices on Welborn in Oak Lawn. Lloyd loved to travel the globe picking up treasures and entertaining his friends in his home. James, born in 1957, was both businessman and artist — known for fiber arts, bookkeeping, devotion to rescue dogs, and two decades judging the Creative Arts Competition at the State Fair of Texas.
Together they preserved the home, its expanded grounds, and its quiet dignity. They loved morning walks in Perry Heights with their beloved schnauzers until Lloyd’s mobility issues in his later years. Lloyd passed away in 2013.
In October of 2025, James began a move to a condominium at The Quorum just under a mile away to reduce the demands of maintaining a historic property. Later that month, he died in an accident in the condominium, closing one of the longest chapters in the life of 4311 Hall.