Hallie Marie Sills, 27, of Malibu, passed away on Dec. 6, 2019, in Vermont after waging a long fierce battle against addiction. Hallie leaves her parents Greg and Laureen Sills and brothers Gregory (GT) and Danny.
Hallie attended Malibu Presbyterian Nursery School, Our Lady of Malibu School and Malibu Middle and High schools. She also attended Art Institute of San Francisco and Evergreen University in Washington State.
Hallie’s passion for animals was evident from an early age; her first rescues were Spotty and Brownie, the feeder mice she saved from clutches of the pet store snakes. Every lizard at OLM came home in her lunch box in the safety of a freshly made nest. At the age of 11, Hallie had the good fortune to meet her idol, Steve Irwin, to whom she proudly proclaimed (in an Australian accent) “Look Mate, I was tagged by a wild boar,” which was true; she was bitten by a wild pig in the Bahamas.
As she got older, Hallie worked with many animal rescues and was able to find her cherished fur-baby, Booger, in a dumpster near Santa Barbara.
And just this summer, Hallie came to the rescue of a giant gopher snake mistaken by the gardeners as a rattler. Hallie jumped into the bushes, grabbed the snake by the head and delivered it to the safety of the Point Dume Headlands.
Hallie was about to realize her dream to open her own doggie day care in Vermont called “Downward Dog.” She had the location and the paperwork in motion and hoped to get the project moving once the weather warmed up.
Hallie was also a fearless defender of so many causes including the Women’s March, the rights of her LGBTQ friends and was a proud supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders.
Hallie was also a gifted visual artist and her works are hung with love around her family home. She was a lover of all genres of music and prided herself on bringing the “newest” sounds to all of her friends and family while she danced herself silly to the new tunes.
The sad truth of Hallie’s life is that her sweet soul was no match for the cunning ravages of addiction.Hallie hated her addiction and wanted to live her simple dreams and be happy with her dogs, music, art, friends and family.
There are no words to express the heartbreaking loss her friends and family feel with the death of such a sensitive and gentle soul. We mourn the loss of all her dreams that could have been. All the animals she could have rescued mourn with us, as well.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, Dec. 15 at 1 p.m. at the Malibu Jewish Center.
In honor of our dear sweet rescue angel, please consider a contribution to The Hallie Sills Memorial Animal Rescue Fund (through GoFundMe) bit.ly/357CibA which will provide donations to the many animal charities Hallie loved.
Alternately, contributions can be made to Cri-Help where Hallie passionately worked to find sobriety: cri-help.org/donate/