Obituary of Marge Klein

June 11, 1921 – October 15, 2017

Marge Klein, Age 96 of Saginaw.  

Beloved wife of the late Harold Klein. Loving mother of Guy (Diane) Klein, Kim (the late Michelle) Klein and the late Sharon Johnson. Dearest grandmother of Sean (Kim) Johnson, Jaret Johnson and Casey Klein. Dear great grandmother of Alex, Noah and Justin. Memorials appreciated to The American Macular Degeneration Foundation, P.O. Box 515, Northampton, MA 01061-0515

FAMILY TRIBUTE

Margarette Baginski was a child of Lithuanian immigrant parents.  Born in Detroit, MI, on June 11, 1921, she was only 8 years old when the Great Depression hit.  Margarette was the youngest of four surviving children in her family. The family survived the hardships of the times, including hunger and the trials of being very poor. 
Marge completed HS and met Harold Klein.  Harold loved horses.  The couple would don riding boots, riding pants and rent a couple of horses for the day.  Marge would make sandwiches for lunch.  The couple was married after a short courtship.  Later they had their first child Sharon. 
WWII found the small family in Norfolk, Virginia, where Harold was stationed in the Navy.  Harold was assigned to a ship and got orders to set sail. He ended up in the Philippians as the war ended.  With Harold at sea, Marge returned to Detroit with Sharon.  She worked at Willow Run airport where the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber was built.  She was a Quality Control inspector.  She checked and inspected superchargers before they were installed on the bomber‘s engines (Frankly, I don’t know if this was before or after Norfolk).
After the war the couple settled back to the Detroit area.  Harold worked as a machinist for Timken axle and Marge became a mother and housewife.
Their first son Guy was born in 1951.  He later inherited Harold’s love of horses.   The family lived in and around the Detroit area including Wyandotte, Lincoln Park and Southgate.  In 1961 their son Kim was born.  Sharon married that same year and moved out to start her life with her husband Norman.  A few years later the family moved from Southgate to their new home in Huron Township.  There were two barns and 5 acres--plenty of room for horses.  Marge loved to garden and helped take care of the many animals they had. 
After Kim started school, Marge took a job with JL Hudson and worked retail for many years until retirement.  She had a flair for style and her many customers relied on her sharp eye for their clothing choices.  JL Hudson received many letters from happy customers about how helpful and personable Marge was with her customers.  After she retired, she would bump into her previous customers while shopping at Hudson’s.  They would ask for her help on clothing choices, and though she was retired she would offer her suggestions and help.
She loved to sing and dance.  She became choir director for a small group which entertained the elderly in many homes around the Brownstown area.  
After Harold passed, she moved to Trenton, MI.  In her late 80’s and early 90’s she was still very active.  Although, she was legally blind Marge did her own shopping and navigated the city of Trenton on long walks with her walker. 
In November on 2012, Kim and Marge took a trip to West Virginia to have Thanksgiving with Guy and his family.  Although she loved to travel, she said this would be her last trip.  She stayed with Kim in Saginaw through the holidays that year.  It became evident that she could no longer live on her own.   She moved in with Kim and lived at his house until October of 2017. 
Her family and friends in the Detroit area knew her as Marge.  Harold would at times, playfully call her Margie.  Kim picked up on this at an early age and started calling her Margie as well.  So to her friends and family in Saginaw so was always referred to a Margie.  The people she met in Saginaw liked her.   Her caregivers both liked and loved her.  In closing, she was well liked by all that met her, she was a strong and independent woman, and she will be missed by everyone that knew her.