Margaret ‘Maggie’ Bogdan

MARQUETTE, MI – Margaret Frances Linn Bogdan, passed away peacefully at the Mother Teresa House, in Lansing, Michigan, on December 10th, 2021. She had only recently turned 94 years of age. Maggie, as she was known to almost all who knew her, was the eldest of four children born to her German American mother and Chinese father. Her mixed heritage was a source of abundant interest to all who knew her – a source of pride as well as societal prejudice.

Maggie’s life was filled with travel, excitement, and danger. When she was two, her family moved to Singapore to join her father’s extended family of professionals including politicians, physicians, and race car drivers. Her two sisters and brother were later born there. She survived an outbreak of fever that took both of her sisters. The Sino-Japanese war and the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, forced her mother to flee with her and her toddler brother, John, in tow, moving by boat, from China to Indonesia, to Singapore and ultimately to British controlled India. They endured hunger and hardships including attacks on their ships.

As displaced persons in India, she and her family were housed in a refugee camp. From there she moved to a convent that charitably accepted refugees and orphans. At the end of the war the family of three eventually resettled in Chicago. By her own admission her travails had left her as thin as a straw. Her cumulative experiences during this period would haunt her to the end.

Maggie Linn is best known as a world class watercolor artist. Her humble beginnings in the Chicago art world had her creating commercial designs for wallpaper, holiday cards, and posters. Still in her 20s, while there she was in charge of 50 other artists, including Nita Engel, who became a lifelong friend and who later introduced her to the beauty of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Maggie moved to the UP and ultimately reached her goal of entry into the prestigious American Watercolor Society, paving the way to a successful career as a watercolor artist, teacher, and mentor. Her paintings commonly reveal astute observations of nature’s detailed intricate beauty.

Maggie’s life transformed yet again when she met Thaddeus “Ted” Bogdan, with whom she shared many outdoor interests as well as culinary passions. Their relationship resulted in marriage and a move to Front Street in Marquette, where she became a stepmother to two young girls, Kathy, and Laurie, and inherited five other older Bogdan children. With no children of her own, this was a brave new world that Maggie embraced with gusto. Of course, the move also altered the Front Street house, the living room was modified to become her studio, sporting a large bathtub to support Maggie’s continuing artistic endeavors. Eventually, Maggie expanded her artistic visibility by joining the cooperative STUDIO Gallery at Presque Isle, owned by her friend and fellow artist Kathleen Conover. And, with an empty nest on Front Street, she and Ted moved to a new home on Lake Superior, a place they enjoyed immensely even after Ted’s Parkinson diagnosis. Maggie tended him with abundant love and care during his decline. With the passing of Ted Bogdan in 2014, Maggie continued her artistic engagement with her professional colleagues at the Presque Isle STUDIO gallery. There, as well as, in her home, she was often visited by cherished friends and family, far too numerous to mention individually.

The isolation of the Covid pandemic took its toll on Maggie and she began to suffer from maladies that went unchecked. Finally, with no feasible way to continue independent living, Maggie moved to Lansing, where the Mother Teresa House, provided her the spiritual comfort and support she so genuinely needed during her last days.

The family is grateful to the caring and attentive staff at Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice, who, in Maggie’s words, “treated her like a human being” and to Mother Teresa House, in Lansing, where her spiritual needs additionally were addressed.

Donations in in the name of Margaret Linn Bogdan, can be made to Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice, 914 W. Baraga Ave., Marquette, MI 49855 and Mother Teresa House, 308 N. Walnut St., Lansing, MI 48933.

Visitation will take place in the Bishop’s Room of St. Peter Cathedral, on Friday, December 17th, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., where a eulogy will be shared. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow in the church at 12:30 p.m., with the Rev. Michael Steber officiating. The visitation and Mass will be livestreamed at: https://my.gather.app/re member/margaret-maggi e-bogdan.

Burial will take place in the Holy Cross Cemetery at 2 p.m., Friday and that will also be lived streamed at: https:// my.gather.app/remember /margaret-maggie-bogda n.

Canale-Tonella Funeral Home and Cremation Services is assisting the Bogdan family where memories of Maggie may be shared at canalefuneral.com.