Former resident Marie Halbach passed away on March 3, 2023 in Novata, Claifornia. Born on April 30, 1943, she was the daughter of Charles and Marion Halbach and welcomed as the first grandchild of Jesse and Bertha Burnham and of Adolph and Katie Halbach. The Halbachs reclaimed their deep roots here when Charlie was called to duty overseas during World War II; Marie and her sisters, Charlene (Randall) and Kathie (Moffitt), grew up on White Kettle Farm, benefitting from the neighborliness of family and friends, and from the joys and responsibilities of raising chickens, horses, cats and dogs, influences which eventually led to a life of caregiving.

Marie’s academic career began in the Bell School. She graduated from the Consolidated School and Windham High, where she was an accomplished violinist in the school’s and the All-State Orchestra. In 1965, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science — the first of the Burnham and Halbach families to earn a college degree — from the University of Connecticut’s School of Nursing and became a psychiatric nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital.

She continued her career in San Francisco, for a time living near the Haight-Ashbury corner, during the “love and peace” years of the era, affording her the opportunity to see Janis Joplin and other upcoming artists perform in neighborhood coffee shops and free concerts in the city. She worked as a nurse and as part of a medical team which provided health care at West Coast rock festivals, including the infamous Altamont Free Concert in 1969. Over the years, she adopted the name “Marissa” and returned to school, receiving an advanced degree in school counseling and spending her remaining career as a guidance counselor with middle and high school students, retiring in 2011.

Marie/Marissa strongly believed in various issues such as women’s rights, supporting them financially and with her time. Her correspondence reflects a history of the women’s movement in the 1960’s and 70’s, replete with notices of meeting attendance, memberships, contributions, letters to politicians and news from top feminist organizations including NOW, NARAL, and ZPG. She saved a 1975 letter from the ACLU, signed by their General Counsel at the time, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who added the following postscript: In Wiesenfeld, the ACLU’s latest victory for women’s rights, the Supreme Court has ruled that a widowed father is entitled to receive the same social security benefits as a widowed mother. The working mother thus is assured of equal protection for her family.

She was also a strong supporter of animal welfare organizations and rescued numerous cats and dogs over the years. Several times she flew to Hampton with her larger rescue dogs, believing they’d enjoy a happier life on White Kettle Farm. Townspeople may remember her father’s faithful canine companion, Max, who was a “California rescue.” With the plants she cultivated, her gardens also served as a haven for birds and butterflies. Our condolences to her family, her four-legged, and winged friends.