Obituary of Gary Michael Majeske

July 6, 1953 – October 6, 2018

Gary M. Majeske, Age 65 of Brownstown, known as the train man.    

Beloved husband of Karen Majeske. Loving father of Shaun Majeske and Krystal Majeske. Dearest brother of Timothy (Beverly) Majeske, Thomas (Lynn) Majeske, the late James Majeske and the late Phyllis McDonald. Dear son in law of Dorothy Urben. Brother in law of Pamela Majeske, Barbara (Frank) Clark, Pamela Urben, Lauren (Sam) Crudo and Lynn (Jim) Clark. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Memorials appreciated to Children's Leukemia Foundation, 27240 Haggerty Road, Suite E-15, Farmington Hills, MI 48331, or Michigan Humane Society, 30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 48025. 

Family Tribute

Gary was born and raised in Lincoln Park.  He was the 5^th child of Arnold and Arlene Majeske.  He had three older brothers; Jim, Tim and Tom and sister, Phyllis. 

After high school, Gary had various jobs until he began working at Ford Motor Company on the assembly line.  He later transferred to Rouge Steel, a Division of Ford Motor at that time.  He worked 29 years at Rouge Steel until his 1^st open heart surgery on July 1, 2000 and was medically retired by his surgeon.

From the time Gary was a child, he was very involved in his dad’s Lionel trains, setting up a small train display during the Holiday’s in the family’s enclosed back porch.  He continued his passion with Lionel trains and displays after he married Karen in 1976.  In 1977, the year his son Shaun was born, he set up a large model train display with houses and towns. When the newspapers began to write articles about this massive train display, Gary opened his home to the public to visit and see for themselves.  Shaun had the same passion for the trains.  He and his dad would sometimes work through the night.  The train displays continued as a family tradition with Shaun and daughter Krystal (born in 1983) joining in the fun.  Gary and Karen would have set-up parties with brothers, brother-in-law’s, nieces & nephews joining in to get the display completed by Thanksgiving.  Through the years, hundreds of visitors came to see the trains during the Holidays.  This tradition continued until 2004 when health reasons caused Gary to show his trains publically for the last time.  The Detroit Free Press published an article on December 3, 2004 with the large headline:  THE LAST STOP.  This article prompted well over 2,000 visitors into our home to see the trains one last time.  Gary will forever be known and remembered as the Train Man, and the wonderful memories from thousands of families and especially the children who enjoyed the wonders of small cities and the trains traveling everywhere.

Gary was a very talented carpenter, always taking on side jobs while he worked full time.  He could remodel basements, bathrooms, build decks, sheds, and add rooms to homes.  The motto both Shaun and Krystal would say since they were small; “My Dad can fix and build anything!”  Shaun inherited his dad’s passion to build and chose this as his career.  Gary and Shaun continued to do all side jobs as a team.  They enjoyed going to flea markets & estate sales together every weekend finding train items to fix, clean and resell at the Train Shows they attended as vendors 4-5 times a year.

Gary will always be remembered for the love of his family; Karen, Shaun and Krystal.  He was also very close to his late brother Jim Majeske and always had a special bond with his brother Tim.