(1935-2019)

A 485-acre farm near Harbor Beach, in Huron County, Michigan (the county at the very tip of Michigan’s “Thumb”), was home for the Roggenbuck family: Henry and Magdalene (Holdwick) and their large family, of whom Margaret Ann was the sixth child and the second daughter.

The Roggenbucks had deep roots in Huron County; Henry’s parents arrived there from Germany in the 1800s and settled on a farm, while Magdalene’s parents were also area farmers. The two met as children in catechism class at Harbor Beach’s St. Anthony Church, the same church where they were married in 1927.

Both Henry and Magdalene left the area as young adults, Henry to attend Detroit Business University and Magdalene to study education at what was then known as Ferris Institute in Big Rapids, Michigan. But Henry loved the land too much to stay away and returned to Harbor Beach to work the family farm, and Magdalene came back to the area to spend six years as a country-school teacher before the two married.

In one of her St. Catherine letters, Sister Margaret Ann remembered her father as a man with a gentle spirit and a love for life, someone who saw goodness in everyone. “He perceived and experienced life as gift and he especially cherished each of his children as a special gift,” she wrote.