Barbara Louise (Malone) Magin

Barbara Louise (Malone) Magin, age 87, with loving family by her side, joyfully joined her parents, C. Loyal and Lillian Malone, brothers Jim and Dick Malone and son-in-law Dan Kopec on Sunday, April 22, as Jesus welcomed her home with open arms. Barb was born February 12, 1931 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her formative years at St. Alphonsus, Marywood and Aquinas College defined the tenants she held so deeply in life: faith, family, service and a love of everything Irish. Barb married John L. Magin on June 13, 1953 and was a teacher at Knapp School and Ferndale in Detroit before starting her family. In 1959, with 4 daughters under the age of 5, she began a 50 year career in Tupperware where she was loved and admired by all. With her busy schedule of raising a family and rushing off to a nightly Tupperware party, her husband, John, gave himself the title of “chief cook and bottle washer,” and as a team they raised a strong Catholic family. Barb’s deep faith guided her to not only instill a love of the rosary and her Catholic faith in her seven children, but she practiced what she preached by also teaching CCD (religious education) for 20 years. With her enormous personality, she embodied service by being a great friend and neighbor and reaching out to those in need, organizing a food and clothing drive, visiting a lonely or sick friend or baking for a funeral lunch. In fact, she did this so often that her family would wonder if that cake on the counter was for them or a funeral service at St. James, her parish. Barb loved to sing and play the piano and you would often hear songs from the Sound of Music, Mary Poppins or a good Irish tune drifting through the house. She instilled the love of music not only in her children but also the grandchildren she cherished. Barb is survived by John, her husband of 65 years and her 7 children: #1- Mary (Brian) Wisinski, #2- Sherry (Kip) Engen, #3- Deb Datema, #4- Kathy Kopec, #5- Susie Magin and her sons, Tim (Moira) Magin and Duffy (Jill) Magin. She also leaves behind 15 grandchildren: Katie, Jeff and Meg Wisinski; Ryan and Kevin Murphy; Nicholas Datema, Lindsey (Jon) Datema, Tricia (Drew) Mindham, Tony Datema; Kylie (Jesse) Nyboer and Devin Kopec; Cory (Jason) Blain, Corey (Ines) Green, Briana and Colin Magin and her great-grandchildren: Bastille Murphy, Alex Green and Sawyer Blain, and many loving nieces and nephews. If Barb could tell you anything, it would be: “Love the Lord, your family and dedicate yourself to the service of others.” She will be greatly missed by her family: “Mom, until we meet again, God will hold you in the palm of His hand.” A visitation will be held Tuesday May 1 from 2 to 4 PM and 6 to 8 PM at Arsulowicz Brothers Remembrance Mortuary, 3525 Remembrance Rd NW, where a Rosary will be prayed at 7:30 PM. A memorial Mass will be held Wednesday May 2 at 11 AM at St. James Catholic Church, where the family will receive visitors one hour prior to Mass. Memorial donations can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The family would like to extend a special thanks to the staff at Blodgett Hospital, Unit 1D and Spectrum Health Hospice for their kind and compassionate care.

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Barbara Louise (Malone) Magin

February 12, 1931 - April 22, 2018