Betty Marquand

Betty Marquand passed away on Feb. 9. She was 95. She was born on Feb. 15, 1926, in Oak Creek, Colorado, and spent her early years in rural towns on Colorado’s Western Slope where her father taught school. After her parents’ divorce, she was raised by an aunt and uncle in the Denver area and graduated from Englewood High School. She attended Colorado Women’s College in Denver and graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a bachelor’s degree in music education.

An accomplished pianist and vocalist, she won state music contests as a teen and performed with a college group to entertain local U.S. servicemen.

She married Ken Marquand in 1948. They lived in several states during his early years as an engineer and then settled in Denver. After Ken died in 1969, she taught piano lessons to support her two children. Meanwhile, she served as a 4-H leader for many years and remained active in her church where she was often a soloist in the choir.

In the early 1980s she moved to Wisconsin to attend Nashota House Theological Seminary where she earned a Master of Divinity and was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church. A few years later she completed a clinical pastoral education program in Savannah, Georgia, and after returning to Racine, served as a chaplain at then-St. Luke’s Hospital. In retirement, she remained an active member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Racine and took numerous art classes at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. She loved painting and making things and always had a project going.

She is preceded in death by her parents Isaac and Flora Farley; aunt and guardian Mila Maxwell (Claude); husband Kenneth Marquand; and sister-in-law Coral Marquand. She is survived by her children, Ian Marquand (Susan) and Barbara Marquand (John Seelmeyer); and grandchildren, Adrienne Marquand (Sean), Ashley Marquand and Sara Seelmeyer.

The family is grateful to the staff at Lakeshore at Siena for the good care she received in her final years.

A memorial service will be held at St. John’s Chapel at DeKoven Center, 600 Caron Butler Drive, Friday, March 25, 2022, 2pm with Fr. Seth Raymond officiating. Memorial donations may be made to the Hospitality Center at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Racine.