Marcia Branch Haughton Nybakken

Marcia Branch Haughton Nybakken passed away peacefully and surrounded by family on June 9, 2023, in Oakland after a courageous six-year struggle with cancer. She is survived by Jim Nybakken, her husband of 52 years, her daughter Elizabeth Rohner (Bill) of Winnetka, Illinois and son Grant Nybakken (Christine Louie) of Santa Clara, California. She is also survived by two wonderful grandchildren, Ethan Rohner and Hazel Nybakken, as well as her brother Victor Haughton (Kirsti) and many other extended family members throughout the United States and Canada.

Marcia was born on January 15, 1945, in Glen Cove, New York to Victor and Marian Haughton. Marcia lived and attended school at Friends Academy on Long Island, where her parents were teachers and her father served as Headmaster. The family moved to Marseilles in 1959 as part of her father’s Fulbright year during which Marcia gained a credible French accent. Upon the family’s return to the States, Marcia attended Lincoln School in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated in 1963 from MacDuffie School in Granby, Massachusetts.

Marcia attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, graduating in 1967, and then taught second grade for two years in Madison, Connecticut. In 1969 she moved to the Bay Area to pursue her master’s degree in early childhood education at San Francisco State. While there she was set up on a blind date with Jim Nybakken, who was serving in the Navy at the time. Over 53 years later they were still the best of friends and partners.

Following Jim’s discharge from the Navy in 1970 and his backpacking trip through Europe and the Middle East, they reconnected in San Francisco and were married in November 1971. They moved to the East Bay to start a family, first in Oakland and then to Piedmont. Marcia felt it was important to stay at home with her two young children, so she provided in-home childcare for many Piedmont families while still finding time to volunteer in the schools. After Elizabeth and Grant were in middle school, Marcia became a teacher at Piedmont Play School and a year later was named director. When the school needed to relocate, Marcia helped to obtain approvals for the siting of a new school building at Hampton Field, and this is a building that now carries her name. Over her years of teaching she gained the love and lasting affection of many children and families who benefited from her gentle, firm, and caring attention. In recognition of those qualities, she was honored with a Lois Blair Rawlings Educational Inspiration Award in 2000.

In her acceptance of that award Marcia wrote that “Teaching is a profession to stay with because you know that you are touching lives… It is watching a child grow and take footsteps in the right direction and with newfound confidence in themselves. It is the light in their eyes when they catch on to a concept or realize something new about themselves.” This statement described not only Marcia’s approach to teaching but also about her approach to life – she always put other people first with her boundless generosity, good humor, kindness, and willingness to help in any way.

Following retirement from teaching Marcia worked as a bookkeeper in support of several East Bay individuals and non-profit organizations. When Marcia and Jim bought a second home at Sea Ranch, she volunteered with many North Coast groups, including the Sea Ranch Chapel Foundation, the Community Garden, the Trails Committee, and the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy, where she most recently participated in the restoration of the historic Gualala Cemetery. She was always ready to volunteer for projects and for people that needed help. Largely in recognition and appreciation of those efforts she and Jim were named Sea Ranchers of the Year in 2020.

Family and friends were also extremely important to Marcia, and she helped organize numerous block and unit parties, as well as various other neighborhood and family get-togethers over the years. The family also enjoyed, and will always remember, their (almost) annual trips to various locales around the world. After all, what is more important than shared memories of a life well lived?

Informal memorial gatherings for Marcia will be held in both Piedmont and at Sea Ranch later this summer. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, any memorial donations be made to the charity of your choice.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.neptune-society.com/location/oakland-ca for the Nybakken family.