Martha Blankarn Halsey, 94, of Bluffton, South Carolina, and a long-time resident of Locust and Rumson, passed away peacefully April 30, 2023. She was born Feb. 8, 1929.
Marty attended the Little Red Schoolhouse in Locust and Rumson Country Day School. She graduated from Chatham Hall boarding school in Chatham, Virginia, in 1947, and from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in May 1951. She met her husband, Alexander “Sandy” Halsey, at age 14 and was married to him for 72 years.
Marty was active in sports at both Chatham and Bryn Mawr, playing on varsity teams in swimming, baseball and field hockey. Her great love, however, was horseback riding where she won a number of awards on the riding team at Chatham. Her love of horses started with riding with her mother when she was a young girl in Rumson and continued throughout her life.
Marty was in love with nature. She was fascinated with birds and animals and with traveling to find them, see them and hear them. She went on trips to both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions, adventured on safaris in Africa and fished in both fresh and saltwater around the world.
Marty loved to sail her 16-foot Comet and was Sandy’s crew in sailing races on larger boats for years. She was an ardent gardener, particularly favoring daffodils and orchids, and grew dozens of varieties of both at her homes in New Jersey, Hawaii and the New York State Adirondacks. She was voted a Life Member of the Rumson Garden Club. She was a self-taught benthic marine biologist and worked as a volunteer with the NOAA Fisheries Laboratory on Sandy Hook and as a volunteer at the New York Museum of Natural History in New York City. She also edited two scientific books on marine life.
Surviving are her husband, Alexander V. R. Halsey and three children, Cynthia Halsey Mernick and husband David of Oceanport, Ann Halsey Burlingham and husband Stuart of Savannah, Georgia, and Dr. David Halsey and wife Katie Doremus Halsey of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Also surviving are seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Marty provided a loving strength to her family and all of her relatives. Though we mourn her passing, we who knew and loved her are richer for our time together. We will miss her deeply as she finally rests at home in the hands of God.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
The article originally appeared in the May 18 – 24, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
