Marcia was born on August 29th, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. In 1950, her parents sold their grocery store and moved the family to warm Southern California, where her father began a successful career in commercial real estate. Marcia loved California, and always considered it her true home. She spent her formative years in Anaheim and Fullerton, and was a member of the first freshman class at Cornelia Connelly High School in Anaheim, which her father helped to build.

She graduated from Connelly in 1965, and attended Mount St. Mary’s College in Brentwood through her sophomore year. She then married her high school sweetheart, James “Pat” Halligan on April 1st, 1967, and completed her education at University of California-Santa Barbara, receiving her BA in History in 1972. During her time in Santa Barbara, she was an active member of St. Rafael Catholic Church, where she worked with the youth group and religious education.

In 1973, her husband moved the family to Lincoln, Nebraska, for a visiting professorship at the University of Nebraska. It was in Lincoln where Marcia really began her lifelong journey of ministering in the Catholic Church. At Blessed Sacrament, she helped run the religious education program and actively participated in various ministrations for the church while holding down a full time job at the Lincoln Learning Center - one of the first alternative high schools in America. She made many wonderful, lifelong friends in Lincoln.

In 1980, the family moved to beautiful Whidbey Island, Washington, where Pat set up a dental practice in Freeland, and Marcia began what would be nearly 34 years of service to St. Hubert Catholic Church in Langley. Beginning as a volunteer for the religious education program in 1980, she was hired by the Parish to be the religious education administrator for the church in 1986. By 1992, she was working full time as the pastoral administrator for the parish, a position she held until her illness in March. In 1998, she earned a Masters in Pastoral Administration from Seattle University and, during her program, did her internship at St. James Cathedral in Seattle, where she met many new friends and colleagues who would enrich her life and profession for years to come.

After the death of her father in 2003, Marcia took over the administration of her parent’s California interests in commercial real estate, managing her family’s properties until her illness. In 2010, she created and funded a professorship in her parent’s name at Seattle University that was dedicated to Interdenominational Studies. This fellowship brought her great joy and pride, and was something she hoped would be a lasting legacy after she was gone.

Marcia loved to travel. She was particularly moved by her trips to Italy, Ireland, Israel, and South Africa - places she always hoped to go back to some day. She loved to drive, near and far, road-tripping through a better part of this country in her lifetime, and could be frequently seen tearing around the island with the top down in her latest sports car. She loved to read, and had several books going at all times. She loved her cats, who loved her just as much. She loved her family, her friends, and, especially, her God, whom she dedicated her life to unquestionably.

Marcia leaves behind her husband, Pat, her three children, Denisia, Christopher, and Victoria, and a vast community of wonderful friends she valued and loved dearly. Her light will shine brightly in the hearts of the many lives she affected and ministered to for many years to come.
Viewing for family and friends will be held at St. Hubert’s on Tuesday, August 19 from 9:30 to 11am. A funeral celebration of Marcia’s life will be held at St. Hubert Catholic Church, 804 3rd St., Langley, WA. 98260, on Tuesday, August 19th, at 11 a.m., with Rev. Rick Spicer, Celebrant, followed by a luncheon social in the adjacent church annex, where friends will be encouraged to tell their favorite “Marcia” story.

Please visit Marcia’s page in the Book of Memories at www.wallinfuneralhome.com to share memories and condolences. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Wallin Funeral Home & Cremation, LLC, Oak Harbor, WA.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Marcia Spehar Halligan, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.

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