AURORA – Marmion Academy soon will begin searching for a new headmaster to replace John Milroy, who is resigning his post on July 1 to accept an offer on the West Coast, the school announced Friday.

Milroy said in a press release that the decision to become the head of school at Villa Academy in Seattle was difficult to make.

"I have lived in the Batavia-Aurora area my whole life, and, in a way, I have grown up at Marmion," he said in the release. "I have walked our hallways and sat in our classrooms as a student, parent, faculty member and administrator; I have always been proud of my affiliation with the Marmion community and have always been proud to call myself a Marmion Cadet."

According to the release, Milroy graduated from Marmion Academy in 1979 and has been employed there since 1991. He taught theology, served as the department chairman, was associate headmaster for two years and has been headmaster since 2003.

Villa Academy is a Catholic independent school for preschool children to eighth-graders. Milroy's daughter and son-in-law live just north of Seattle, according to the release.

A search committee will be formed to select Milroy's successor. It hopes to have the committee assembled and ready to work by Jan. 1, according to the release.

"I ask for your prayers for Marmion Academy and its students as we move through the selection process," Marmion President John Brahill said in the release.

"I also ask your prayers for Mr. Milroy as he prepares to move on to the next phase of his life. I have thanked him, in the name of the Marmion community, for his many years of service at Marmion and for all that he has done for Marmion. There is no doubt that Marmion Academy has grown in many ways under his wise leadership."