Jean Halling

I first met Jean when she was a guest at my wedding and I was "Peyton's Bride" or "Dolly" thereafter. We shared many happy times at the Mud Flats, the House Boat, the Beach House, Bend, Tahoe and even here in Seattle. I feel fortunate to have known her.

Jean meant so much to Peyton that, rather than mentioning me or Lane in the category "family" when completing his 50th High School Reunion blurb, he wrote: "I always considered Jean Halling to be part of my family." While that was a...

Here is a photo of one of Halling's crazy parties. Her houseboat was being pushed up the Willamette to the Portland Rowing Club from where it was built by the St. John's Bridge. Never wanting to miss an opportunity to have a party, Halling had invited friends to share the journey. Shortly after I took this picture, they stopped at a waterside restaurant since they had run out of liquor.
When she first approached me about designing the houseboat, I suggested that she should get a house...

Jean was special. She was remarkable. But I won't deny that when I first arrived in the US of A (as Jean would have put it) as an exchange student from South Africa, having Jean as my new Mom' was pretty daunting. But it didn't take me long to work out that I had really lucked it. She was irreverent, intelligent and insightful. We argued about the state of the world then and ever since. She never let me off lightly in relation to my certainties - I hope I did the same in relation to hers. We...

Jean introduced "Zim" to the "Sharkman" and they hit it off. They've been married for nearly 50 years now and I'm the oldest of their four children. We wouldn't exist without Jean!

Growing up we had the chance to be dazzled by her cameos as she zipped up to Seattle. Often we spent beautiful weeks at the beach house in Cannon Beach, joining in the sand castle contests, and learning how to skim board. And the salt water taffy was amazing.

Jean was with us for so many of...

She was one of my favorite people in the Delta Gamma house. She started early making everybody laugh. I will miss her immensely and talking to her on the phone.

To Jean's family my sincere thoughts and prayer for your loss. Jean was the "greatest" of all my mother's friends. She made us laugh like no other and taught us things that no one could because of laughter and wisdom. The mud flats house, the Cannon Beach house were the places of my youth, my laughter and fondest memories only because mom and Jean were together rest in peace Halling much love Tommie

I feel sorry for all those people who never got a chance to meet Jean. She was a wonderful person. Great stories, always welcoming. I will miss her. She was one of my favorite people on the river.

I was so sorry to hear of Halling's passing. She will always be one of my favorite people. Seems I have known her my entire life, my mother went to college with her(a DG no less). I always made it a point to visit or at a minimum call her when in Portland. We had some great times on the Golf Course, whacking golf balls,just chatting and hanging out. What a wonderful woman, I feel truly blessed to have called her my friend.

My deepest sympathy to Jean Halling's family. One of the most vividly memorable classes and teachers I had at "Beavo" high school was chemistry with Ms. Halling. Never took another chemistry class in my life, but still remember so much about it--like the difference between a sugar and alcohol molecule--thanks to Ms. Halling. Amazing. That was over 30 years ago. She made everything interesting.