* Lelah C. Halton, 101; Singer, Real Estate Broker

Lelah Coyle Halton , a Ventura resident who turned 101 last summer, died Saturday.

Born Sept. 7, 1896, in Walla Walla, Wash., she moved to Portland, Ore., with her family in 1915, and two years later she married her first husband, John J. Beckman, an attorney. The couple had three children.

Throughout her life, she loved singing. As a young woman, she launched a short-lived professional stint with her friend Vera Knight, a pianist. She took the stage name of Vivian Day and the pair toured the Pacific Northwest as Day & Knight.

During the 1930s, she moved to Southern California and began a career as a real estate broker. In 1944, she married her second husband, Charles Halton, a character actor who appeared in numerous films, including “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Westerner.”

In the 1940s and ‘50s, her real estate career evolved into development and investment, and she specialized in renovating apartments. When her husband died in 1958, she retired and lived in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles. And she continued to sing for fun. She moved to Ventura County in 1990 and had lived the past few years at the TowneHouse in Ventura.

She is survived by her children, Mary B. Farrar and Judith Quinn, both of Ventura, and John Coyle of Portland, Ore.; 10 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and two great-great grandchildren.

A memorial gathering will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home, 757 E. Main St., Ventura.

Donations may be made to the Casa Pacifica Youth Connection, 1722 S. Lewis Road, Camarillo 93012, or the New West Symphony, 3451 Foothill Road, Ventura 93003.