The very wealthy Marcia Campbell was introduced in March 1979. Marcia was married to new Memorial hospital administrator Dr. Doug Campbell. Marcia and Doug also had a three-year-old son, Brian. At the time, Marcia would not realize how complicated her life was about to get.

Doug and Marcia were having trouble in their marriage. Marcia had recently become an alcoholic, but she had definite reasons for this. Two reasons a matter of fact. Doug had developed a wondering eye for one of the med students at Memorial, Annie Stewart (formerly Spencer.) Annie at first thought about having an affair with Doug, but then discovered he was married and realized she didn't want to get involved. Doug vowed to Annie to resolve the situation with his absent wife. Enter Dr. Jeff Ward.

Jeff Ward was Annie's teacher and mentor at Memorial. Jeff also had a secret that he confided in with a fellow doctor, Susan Stewart. Jeff told Susan that he once loved a woman who had dropped out of med school to marry a successful doctor and he'd heard the marriage was no on the rocks. That woman was none other than Marcia!

Marcia, in March 1979, had been in Greece for a year with Brian, to try to become sober. (That wasn't entirely successful.) Doug wanted to have separation papers drawn up and sent to her, but Marcia saved him the trouble by returning to Oakdale. She liked the prestige that went along with being a hospital administrator's wife, and she was not going ot give up without a fight. Jeff wondered how she would react to seeing him after all these years. Deep down, Jeff was afraid Doug would steal Annie the same way he stole Marcia. He need not have worried. Doug loved his young son, and because of him, he decided to give his marriage another try. Annie tried hard to on Jeff, but her thoughts kept going back to Doug, and Marcia began to suspect there was another woman. If Doug could play around, so could she! She turned to Jeff, but he didn't respond. Jeff had his eye on becoming chief of surgery. When Doug turned him down, Jeff was sure it was because of Marcia and Annie. Never at a loss for schemes, fellow doctor, John Dixon thought Jeff should try another approach -- Marcia. In the short time she'd been back, Marcia had more than a few board members in the palm of her hand. Because she still wanted him, Marcia told Jeff she'd do what she could. Driving home from the hospital one night, Doug told Annie he was going to file for divorce. Getting out of the car, Annie unknowingly dropped a scarf with her initials on it. Marcia found it and put two and two together. It didn't help that she'd seen Doug and Annie kissing. If Doug asked for a divorce, Marcia threatened to ruin Annie's reputation. Jeff got chief of surgery, but he refused to testify for Marcia against Annie and Doug. Marcia went to Annie's mom, Ellen Stewart and told her that her daughter was having an affair with a married man. That was it for Doug, and he resigned from the hospital administrator position and packed his bags and left. Marcia tried to stop him from leaving, but she'd had too much to drink. She fell down a flight of stairs and was found by Jeff and Annie. Jeff rushed her into surgery. She was out of it for a couple of weeks, while recovering from the fall and surgery. Marcia lashed out at both Jeff and Annie about what happened, but soon realized that much of the blame could be with herself.

On December 14, 1979, Marcia was released from the hospital. She promised Jeff she'd get sober.

On December 21, 1979, she told Jeff that she was leaving Oakdale with her son, Brian, after finding out that she'd won a generous settlement from Doug. Marcia left with her son and headed back to Greece.

In 1980, Jeff would receive word that Marcia had been killed in a plane crash. What happened to Brian Campbell has remained a mystery.