So how did a girl with roots in Center City Philadelphia end up in the country? Michaelyn was a child of the sixties: the heyday of bell bottoms, miniskirts, tie-died everything, and all that long hair. Philadelphia had its share of the sixties atmosphere at the time, and a kid from the country named David was there: just out of college, reveling in the atmosphere, a suburban boy from the different world of Northcentral Pennsylvania. When they met, through a friend-of-a-friend, David knew she was the one – and as Michaelyn grew to know David’s world, she decided country living was for her.
Michaelyn was a Mom: of Elizabeth, born in 1989; and Kristof, born in 1984. The two are very close, which is no surprise considering the example Michaelyn set as they grew: all those walks, swimming in the creek, looking down at bugs and up at stars. Michaelyn was a faithful soccer mom and a dedicated fan of young ballerina performances; she was there at nursery school, through the projects of elementary school, the perils of middle school, and the dating in high school. Then came their college choices: the encouragement, the touch of confidence, and the nudge toward independence.
Michaelyn’s Mom, Hedwig, was raised in the Polish section of South Philadelphia, on Catherine Street just one block from Philly’s famous South Street. Her father, Stan, grew up in the Richmond section of Philly along the Delaware River. Michaelyn’s first grade school years were spent in Richmond, after which her family moved to the new suburbs near Feasterville in Bucks County. She was the oldest of three sisters and the aunt of their six children. She is survived by her middle sister, Janet, now living just north of Philadelphia, and her youngest sister, Christine, who resides in Durham, North Carolina.
Michaelyn grew up in the 1950s, a time when women were expected to become teachers or nurses. Both her parents were second generation Polish immigrants and neither completed 12 years of school. Her Dad was an insurance agent; her Mom, in the language of the day, was a housewife. After graduating from Villa Joseph Marie – an all-girls Catholic high school in Bucks County – Michaelyn opted for teaching, with a degree from East Stroudsburg State College. She taught elementary school first in Bucks County, then at a Catholic School in West Philadelphia, and again at a private school while she was in Florida with David, who was in graduate school. In the 1980s she earned a Masters Degree in Reading Education from Penn State University – a natural fit for the ardent reader that she was – and she went on to teach Reading in the Jersey Shore School District. One particularly satisfying non-teaching job she had while in Philadelphia was as a Play Therapist at Children’s Hospital.
Michaelyn had an abiding interest in the world and its peoples and geography. Maps of the world were on the walls or otherwise handy in all of the corners of the home that she made her own. As a young woman, she spent her first several summers following the school year traveling in western Europe. She enjoyed the cultural sites and outdoor cafes for a month in Salzburg, Austria, and took a course in conversational German. On another trek she toured museums in Florence, Italy. Five or so years later she introduced David to Europe, traveling to London to enjoy the classic London sites – made complete with a visit to Carnaby Street, famous for its trendy 1960’s clothes. A cross-channel ferry took them to Amsterdam, and a train to the countryside of Austria to the village of Golling. There they met Sepp Lechner, one of the few residents who spoke English, who introduced them to the pleasures of Austrian communal beer drinking in a hofbräuhaus.
In 1980, having tired of Philadelphia and left their jobs, Michaelyn and David toured the U.S. in a camper van in search of new environs. They circled the country, visiting friends and many National Parks along the way. They backpacked in Yellowstone, in the Grand Tetons, and to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. That enjoyment of the natural world continued in later years in cross country skiing in the Pennsylvania forests and in canoe camping in the Adirondacks.
Michaelyn read constantly. For years she subscribed to the literary magazines New Yorker, Harpers and The Atlantic. For relaxation she preferred character-driven mysteries. She often said that to enjoy a book, it had to have likable characters – and she found that in Elizabeth George’s and John Gardner’s novels. Her favorite author of children’s books was E. B. White – who could forget Charlotte’s Web? In non-fiction, her favorites were Oliver Sacks, John McPhee, and Dava Sobel, for their easy style and their subject matter – brain science, societal observation, and astronomy. And she loved poetry, with 20 or so books in her collection. Her favorite was Mary Oliver, whose subject was, unsurprisingly, nature.
Michaelyn would have described herself as an introvert, finding energy for life from within, quietly observing and actively engaging with the world. But she also loved socialization, especially during meals and holidays. In a conversation, you knew you had her full attention. She had great recall, often remembering details from long ago. She spent many leisure hours in later years at crossword puzzles and sudoku. And she had an aptitude for math; she kept the house accounts and paid the bills. She said that if she were able to begin a career again, it might just be one in math.
Michaelyn found peace in nature. Her favorite walk was along a quiet country road adjacent to Loyalsock Creek next to the family home. She swam in the creek, often with friends Sue and Jean, at their beach area just upstream. Her children got their introduction to creek life there, with their masks and snorkels. She was a member of the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and the Northcentral PA Conservancy. Binoculars were standard equipment on family walks and ever present on windowsills at home. Each Spring she watched the swallows return to sit in her favorite dogwood trees, along with rose breasted grosbeaks, flickers, song sparrows, and the occasional bluebird – and her favorite, the blue heron. She could name them all at a glance. Mammals arrived as well, including the passing skunk or porcupine, the frequent red foxes and turkeys – whom she gave names – and those too-cute flying squirrels that took up residence in the red pine in the front yard. Deer were regular visitors, and Michaelyn constantly sought a balance between the sight of fawns in April and their fondness for eating her flowers and shrubs.
Michaelyn was fascinated with nature at night. She introduced Elizabeth and Kristof to the night sky and a telescope, found her way in the night sky with star maps, and visited the Bucknell University observatory. At dusk in early Spring the sound of peepers were a comforting sign the world would soon turn green. And the eerie sound of a Screech owl and hoot of a Great Horned a reminder of unseen world of life in the dark night. The enchantment of the night extended into her preference in art: her home’s walls were hung with paintings of everything from van Gogh’s Starry Night to scenes of farmhouses in moonlight – and a painting of silhouetted evergreens by a very young artist named Elizabeth.
Michaelyn was a fan of the arts – dance in particular. She and David had season tickets to the Philadelphia Ballet. While residing in Northcentral PA, they often traveled to Bucknell University and Penn State to see performances of the Twyla Tharp Dance Company, Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, and others. They attended stage productions at the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. Michaelyn took ballet lessons as an adult, and one Christmas season she appeared on stage in a production of The Nutcracker. Her love of dance was in no small part due to her passion for music. Her first vinyl record was Buddy Holly, and her taste in music evolved over the years: soon came Smokey Robinson and The Drifters, and the Moody Blues, Linda Ronstadt, and Jackson Browne. Real rockers followed – Billy Joel, Journey, Jon Bon Jovi, and Ryan Adams. In later years she was drawn to the angelic sound of Andrea Bocelli, but she always retained her rock’n’roll roots. She loved color and texture of fabric, and many walls of her home are dressed with her creations. That passion extended into her wardrobe, most notably in her extensive collection of colorful scarves.
As a patron of the arts, lover of nature, and with a generous spirit, she contributed to many charities and conservation organizations – as St. Judes Hospital, the Salvation Army, the Northcentral PA Conservancy, and the Sierra Club.
The center of Michaelyn’s later life, her sanctuary, was her home in Plunketts Creek Township. Over many years she shaped it and its property, making it her own. In 1984, pregnant with her first child, she was the one who led the search and made the decision to purchase. It was a small house, at 20 ft x 40 ft, built in the late 1940s. But the property was large, and sat beside a wide creek among tall white pines. Twenty years, three renovations, and innumerable projects later, it was big enough for four – with a reading room and study for her, and space for all to work or relax, to be alone or to gather. Vegetable gardens came and went. Flowers and shrubs and flowering trees stayed. The sky was opened to the sun and stars. All of this from was her creative mind, her sense of peace and her place in the natural world.
Lying in the grass on a clear fall night, wondering at the seemingly infinite stars, the blackness between. Sitting on a log in the forest, marveling at the beauty surrounding. Beauty and wonder. Michaelyn lived in that spirit.
No one can be sure there is afterlife, but it is not possible to imagine her spirit would simply cease to exist. And so we carry her on, until we too are carried.
Note: In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Arbor Day Foundation, at https://shop.arborday.org/donations.
