May 12, 2018
REST IN PEACE
Terrence William Halloran died on May 12, 2018 in Beaumont, California. He was born on July 11, 1934 in Santa Barbara, California.
He is survived by his wife Elizabeth, his son Daniel and Daniel's wife Suzanne, their children Eleanor, Gabriel and Celia, his son John and John's wife Melisa and their children Jordan and Nathan.
Terrence is also survived by his sister-in-law Theresa Halloran, his sister Kathleen, his brother Donald and Donald's wife Ildiko, his brother Dennis and Dennis's wife Leslie, his sister Letty and Letty's husband Robert Flatt, his sister Mary and Mary's husband Derrold Thoen, his sister Jane, and 16 nephews and nieces. He is the oldest of the eight children of Terrence Harold Halloran and Billee (Byars) Halloran. He and his brothers and sisters grew up in Santa Ana, California. They all attended elementary school at St. Joseph's School in that city. His parents and his brother Michael preceded him in death.
He attended high school and his first two years of college at the junior seminary of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He completed his studies for the priesthood at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, California. Ordained in April 1960, he served as a priest at Catholic churches in Claremont, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Lancaster.
Terrence's behavior as a young priest stirred no waters during the first three years. Then came Freedom Summer 1963. The chancery office rejected Al White and Sue Welsh's insistence that parishes get involved in the civil rights movement. Cardinal McIntyre refused Bill DuBay's request to work in Africa, and sent him to St. Albert's in Compton instead. Terrence's opportunity to join the Cardinal's Carpet Club (CCC) came when the pastor, Father Jim Dessert, was on vacation. The Community Service Organization (CSO) was planning a civil rights meeting. He and Father Bob Webster eagerly offered the use of the parish hall for the meeting.
During the next two years Terrence became increasingly difficult to handle as an employee. He worked full time giving spiritual care to parishioners. But occasionally he would talk to the press without permission, write articles for publication, give invocations at civil rights rallies, visit the seminary with Bill DuBay, send letters to the chancery office urging repentance and reform, and appear on television news programs. Called on the carpet numerous times and transferred twice, he got an oral ultimatum from the cardinal in June of 1965: "Find another diocese, or expect to suffer consequences." Providentially, about 30 minutes later Father Bill Wasson offered him a job in Mexico.
From 1965 to 1967, Terrence served as a Catholic priest in Mexico. There he met Constance, a Benedictine nun from Illinois. In July 1967 she requested and received a dispensation from her religious vows. Terrence resigned from his parish ministry and they were married on December 27, 1967.
During most of the next nine years, Terrence and Constance lived in Detroit, where their two sons were born in 1968 and 1970. In 1976 they moved to California and settled in Orange County. Daniel and John both attended University High School in Irvine. Daniel is Chief Data Protection Officer and Deputy General Counsel at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). John is a Product Manager at Ingram Micro.
Terrence worked as a computer programmer, mostly in the aerospace industry, from 1972 until his retirement in 2002. Constance was a high school English teacher and librarian in Illinois and later in California. From 1987 until she retired in 1992, she was librarian at St. Barbara's School in Santa Ana. They moved to Beaumont in May 2004. In December 2007 they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, with their sons and their families and about 70 other guests. Constance died suddenly in July 2008.
Terrence's first conversation with Elizabeth was at the August 4, 2008, funeral Mass for Constance. Then one Tuesday in October, he was asked to lead the Bible Study class at the parish hall. Sister Pauline, who had led the class for many years, had called Elizabeth and asked her to "give him a warm welcome." They solemnized their engagement on February 11, 2009 at The Immaculata church on the campus of the University of San Diego. They were married on June 24, 2009 at Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church.
Terrence and Elizabeth have traveled together to Mexico City in 2009, to most of the large cities of Spain in 2013, and to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico in 2013. They have enjoyed several California vacations at Lake Tahoe, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Cambria and Santa Cruz. They have hosted many meals and parties for family and friends at their home in Beaumont.
Since 2004 Terrence has been a member of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church in Beaumont, and a volunteer chaplain at San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in nearby Banning. In 2006 he served on the steering committee for Bond Measure A to expand the hospital facilities. Since January 2010 he has been a reception desk volunteer at HELP, Inc., a food bank serving the poor in Banning and Beaumont and the surrounding area.
Memorial donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders.
A memorial mass will be held at noon on Tuesday May 22, 2018 at Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church at 1234 Palm Avenue, Beaumont, CA 92223.