Margaret Jane Mudgett

ENCINITAS, CA – Margaret Jane Mudgett, age 83, formerly of Adrian, passed away Sunday, March 29, 2009 in Encinitas, California. Margaret, affectionately known as Peggy in her school years and Maggie in her adult years, was born May 8, 1925 in Hillsdale, the only daughter of Charles “Bill” and Effa (Mooney) Sage. Margaret Jane moved with her parents and big brother to Tecumseh in 1934 when a gravel road connected the two towns. Bill Sage and Ray Herrick needed funding for their new invention, a refrigeration compressor. The Tecumseh Bank answered their request, so Hillsdale Tool & Die became Tecumseh Products Company. She attended Tecumseh Public Schools until 1938, when she began her high school years at St. Joseph Academy in Adrian. After graduation she went to Siena Heights for two years and was thrilled to transfer to Detroit’s Mercy College. Graduating in 1942, she did her first home visitation and decided social work was not her cup of tea. She got on the street car that took her down Detroit’s Grand River to Washington Blvd. where she walked into the offices for Pennsylvania Central Airway – later known as Capitol Airlines and eventually United Airlines. She was accepted as a stewardess (now known as flight attendant), had to cut her beautiful auburn hair, and was assigned the Washington, DC, Detroit, Chicago run. In a telephone conversation with her father while on a Detroit layover, her dad put Ford Mudgett on the line. Ford had returned from the Pacific as a Navy fighter pilot. He asked Maggie for a date and when she returned from that September 13, 1946 date, she said to her roommate, “This is the man I am going to marry.” On January 4, 1947 they were married at St. Dominic’s in Clinton, Michigan. Maggie was devoted to her Catholic faith. She made certain that all ten of her children were baptized in the Catholic faith and received the sacraments. She was a member of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Tecumseh where she was active in the Altar Society. She also volunteered for the American Red Cross and the Bixby Auxiliary. She bowled with her cousins and played bridge with her friends and parents, but the majority of her time was taken up in her most important job, raising ten children. In 1963 the family moved to Adrian where they lived for five years before moving to Phoenix, Arizona. Ford and Maggie moved to San Diego in 1986. Margaret is survived by her children, Julie (John) Pfister of Manitou Beach; Mary (Richard) VanDyke of Sedona, AZ; Michael (Karen) Mudgett of Malibu, CA; Charles (Cindy) Mudgett of Chester Springs, PA; Eirene (James) Peck of Cardiff by the Sea, CA; Dr. Ford (Patty) Mudgett of Encinitas, CA; Libby Metz of Corvallis, OR; Laurie (Marty) Metz of Phoenix, AZ; Meg Best of Mesa, AZ; and Therese Bell of Austin, TX; 27 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren. She will be sadly missed by her beloved 8 year old ShihTzus, Susie and Sassy. Margaret was truly blessed the past four years by two wonderful caregivers, Mariella and Griselle. In addition to her husband, Margaret was preceded in death by her brother, Robert Sage. Mass of the Christian Burial for Margaret will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Tecumseh with concelebrants Father Dan Wheeler and Father Paul Grehl. Burial will follow at Brookside Cemetery. Friends may visit the family at the Wagley Funeral Home on Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. A prayer vigil will be held at 7:00 p.m. You may send condolences to the family at www.wagleyfuneralhome.com. In lieu of flowers the family requests contributions in memory of Margaret be made to Hospice of Lenawee or the Lenawee Humane Society. Envelopes are available at Wagley Funeral Home.

Margaret Jane Mudgett

May 8, 1925 - March 29, 2009