Margaret Ann Alyea

She made her final journey to join her husband, Gerald "Jerry" N. Alyea (deceased in 2010) who was her high school sweetheart. She was a resident of Warren Ml for 66 years. She will always remain in the hearts of her family and many friends. She had two children, Gerald "Mark" (Linda) Alyea and Suzanne (Ronald "Ron") Jenkins. In addition, she had two grandchildren, Erik (Marion) Jenkins and Rebecca "Becky" (Jesse) Jenkins. Becky and Margaret adored one another and the two of them spent quality time together since they had the love of nature and birding in common. She was also blessed with three great-grandchildren, Daniel Jenkins, Jayden "Jay" Diehl and Declan Lynn Parrish who brought her an abundance of joy.

Her cousins were very important to her since she was raised as an only child in Montreal by grandparents, uncles and aunts. She went to Lathrup Village Ml at age 13 where she lived with Judith Marshall Sumner, deceased ("Dick", deceased) and Steven "Steve" (Claire) Marshall, along with her Aunt Edith and Uncle Bob Marshall (both deceased). She regarded Judith as her sister and Steve as her little brother who was 3 years old at the time. She remained with them throughout her teenage years.

Her most important friends in her later life were Carolyn Carlson, Pat Conrad, Pat's sweet dog named Butterscotch, Mary Steiber, Mary Ellen from church and the minister of First United Methodist Church of Warren, Pastor Melissa Claxton. They were faithful visitors during the time after her fall near Easter and for the last 6 months. Margaret would confide in Melissa that she was a half-baked Christian (not her exact words) and both of them would repeat this many times. In spite of that, she adored her choir family and singing in the choir was very important to her. She was an active member for countless years.

She appreciated music and played the piano. Her favorite genre of music was classical music and opera. In addition, she authored numerous works of poetry about nature. Her friend Stephanie Bash compiled a book with her own photos of Port Austin along with Margaret's poetry.

She lived a long and energetic life. She attended secretarial school and worked part-time in a legal office while raising her children. Active in her church, she volunteered for the annual Christmas Cookie Walk, McRest, an annual week whereby churches would provide food and shelter for the homeless and also various other fundraisers. She also worked as a supervisor at the Warren voting polls for 30 years.

A very important role in her life was volunteering at Seven Ponds Nature Center in Dryden where she shared her love and knowledge of nature with schoolchildren as well as adults. This role tied in with her passion of birdwatching. When they were younger, Margaret and Jerry would hike through the forests with their binoculars, hoping to catch a glimpse of a rare or unusual bird that wasn't in their journal. She recorded every bird species they spotted while on hikes, along with the location, date and time of the sighting. During migration they would trek to popular areas to count bird species, journals in hand. In her recent life, Margaret, Becky, Declan and sometimes Suzy, would travel by car to favorite spots around Port Austin, searching for that next special bird.

Jerry and Margaret were members of the Astronomy Club where they enjoyed camping and gathering with like-minded people at Bald Mountain. At that time it was unpopulated and the city lights were minimal so they could all enjoy looking at the stars through their telescopes.

Margaret and Jerry loved travel. Her favorites included the Isaac Asimov astronomical cruise and solar eclipse off the coast of Africa, the Alaska cruise twice, including a trip with Suzanne and New Zealand and Australia. In order to help pay for one of these, she saved S&H Green stamps. Since Jerry received 4 week vacations each year, she would plan in advance for their next year's camping adventure all across the nation to State and Federal Parks for many years.

Margaret enjoyed being the life of the party and never wanted to miss an activity. She was a social butterfly and had umpteen friends. One of her former neighbors, Neeraja, a university professor, became very close with Margaret and called her her second Mom since her own mother lived across the ocean. She would call frequently from Texas where she had moved and send her special gifts.

Margaret will be cremated but the family will have a celebration of life for her on Saturday, November 15th, 2025 at the First United Methodist Church of Warren, 5005 Chicago Rd, Warren MI 48092. Visitation will be at 10:00 am with services at 11:00 am. Luncheon will follow in the program center at Church.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, please send memorials to:

Seven Ponds Nature Center

3854 Crawford Rd,

Dryden MI 48428

Or

First United Methodist Church of Warren

5005 Chicago Rd,

Warren Ml 48092

Cards may be mailed to Mark Alyea,

6901 Lansing Ave,

Jackson Ml 49201