John Sears Patrick Halligan

JOHN SEARS PATRICK HALLIGAN was born on November 11, 1929 in Medford, Massachusetts. His parents were Thomas Patrick Halligan, a Master Mariner for the United Fruit Company and Mary Catherine (Sears). He had an older sister named Ruth Ann. Because of his father’s career, the family lived in various locations from Medford, to Tampa and Brooklyn, before eventually settling in Great Kills, Staten Island, where John spent most of his childhood.

A significant event early in John’s life was the loss of his beloved cousin Terry during WWII. John was 15 years old in March of 1944 when Terry was serving in the Army Air Corps and was reported missing in action. He was believed to have been shot down above Montecasino, Italy. He was just 22 years old and like a big brother to John. The first of many losses in his life, it was a very traumatic event that impacted him greatly.

John attended St Clare’s Catholic Elementary School, St. Peters High School and Manhattan College in the Bronx. He took a test to join the NYPD, but was drafted into the Army on February 14, 1951 at 21 years old. He was sent to the Infantry Division at Camp Rucker, Alabama and assigned to the 47th Signal Company. The Rangers came through recruiting so John joined up with the 15th Ranger Company and went through airborne school at Ft. Benning, Georgia. The Rangers were disbanded and John volunteered to go to Korea. President Truman was pushing for more integration in the military, so John was reassigned to the 96th Field Artillery as only the fifth white person in the battalion. He spent most of 1952 in Korea.

When John returned home in 1953, he went into the NYPD Academy. He worked various beats in Staten Island, Greenwich Village, Little Italy and Chinatown, all while taking law classes at NYU in the evenings.

Some of John’s relatives were living in Los Angeles and they encouraged him to take the LAPD written test, which was being given in many major cities. He passed the written test, flew to L.A. for the remainder of the tests and entered the LAPD Academy Class of October 1955. He lived with his cousins in Hollywood while in the Academy and during his first assignments at the Main Jail and Newton Street. Eventually he moved to a beach house in Manhattan Beach, where he met a flight attendant named Donna Rose Kemeny. She was also a nurse, and helped him wrap up his hand that was injured during a fight with a domestic violence suspect on the job.

John and Donna married in 1961 and eventually settled in Long Beach with their four children.

John continued working with LAPD for 33 years in many departments from Newton Street, Wilshire and he even worked Hollywood Vice on occasion. He eventually moved to the forms department in Planning & Research. The stable office hours gave him more time to coach his kid’s baseball teams. He retired in 1988, a year after his beloved big sister Ruth passed away. He realized that life was short and wanted to spend more time at home with his family.

He had nine grandchildren, which took up most of his time. John and Donna were a constant in their lives, always present for every sporting or school event and family gatherings.

Anyone who knew John knew how social he was — a people person, always stopping to talk whether he knew them or not! He was always the life of the party while also a devout lifelong Catholic who had a great faith in God.

In his later years, he kept very active in his morning water aerobics classes at the YMCA, El Dorado exercise classes, LAPD Retirees monthly meetings, St. Joseph’s senior group, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Senior classes at California State University, Long Beach and even organized annual reunions with his LAPD Academy class of 1955.

He was preceded in death by his wife Donna, sister Ruth, brother-in-laws Chris and Jim, three nephews: Chuck, Tommy and Mike Christ and numerous close family and friends. https://www.luybendilday.com/obituary/6542562

He is survived by his four children and nine grandchildren: Jeannie Rhoads (Jeff) DeeJay and Jeffery; Katie Storbeck (Jon) Jack, Dana, Joey and Matt; John Halligan (Gari) Addison and Harrison, Tom Halligan (Takako) Tommy, six nieces and three nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in John’s name to the following organizations that gave him purpose as well as exercise, education, and friendships in the later part of his life:

Eldorado Park West Senior Center

2800 N Studebaker Rd

Long Beach, CA 90815

Osher Life Long Learning Institute

Checks payable to CSULB Foundation

OLLI at CSULB

1250 Bellflower Blvd

Long Beach, CA 90840

Los Altos Family YMCA

1720 N. Bellflower Blvd

Long Beach CA 90815

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church

6180 E. Willow St.

Long Beach, CA 90815