Northport, Michigan - Margaret Jean Mehney, 95, put aside life's burdens and went to her eternal peace on March 19, 2026, at Northport Highlands. Margaret Parker was born February 11, 1931, at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit weighing two pounds thirteen ounces and was sent home with the doctor's advice to enjoy her as long as she might last. But due to her parents' vigilant care, she survived and then some.

After a childhood profoundly affected by the depression and the war, she graduated from Mackenzie H.S. and two years later on February 24, 1951, married her husband of seventy years Charles E. Mehney at Grandale Presbyterian Church in Detroit. Together, Chuck and Margaret made a loving home for their four children, first in Redford Twp. then for twenty years in Livonia. Eventually, as the kids began to fly the coop, they built the house on the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan outside of Northport that would be their home for the rest of their lives.

Having suspended her higher education for some twenty years to raise her family, Margaret returned to Wayne State to pursue a teaching career and after finishing her bachelor's at Eastern Michigan, pivoted to nursing and completed nursing school at Schoolcraft College. She then went on to be an R.N. at Leelanau Memorial Hospital for over seventeen years, and a darned good one.

During the last fifty years of life in Northport, she and Chuck enjoyed a rewarding and energetic life; shaping their lovely home into the idyllic place it is today, hitting the links, grandkids, and snowbirding around the south and west in their old RV. She loved the Lord and served Him faithfully in the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Covenant Churches, teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, and walking in His path to the best of her ability.

Margaret battled heart disease and, even more, the debilitating effects of Parkinson's Disease for the last twenty years of her life, and though it wore her down in the end, the steadfast resilience and determination that she fought back with was a testament to the strength and fortitude that embodied her time with us from day one. The family would like to thank her doctors who helped so much in guiding her through her medical issues, particularly Dr. Cornelius Robens, neurologist, Dr. Kevin Clayton, cardiologist, and Dr. Andrew Cole, Physiatrist, and their practice's staffs.

Margaret was preceded in death by her parents, William and Margaret (Law) Parker, (immigrants from Canada), her brothers Robert, William, and Douglas Parker and their beloved spouses. She is survived by her children; Michael of Suttons Bay, Monica Kneisler (Fred) of Higgins Lake, Mark (Ann) of Commerce Twp., and Charles, Jr. (Patricia) of Traverse City, three granddaughters, three step-grandsons, seven great-grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces.

Visitation will be held at the Northport Evangelical Covenant Church on Saturday, May 9, 2026, at 10 am until the funeral service at 11 am. Burial will follow at the Leelanau Twp. Cemetery. Pastor Tim Swinson will officiate. Flowers and donations are not requested, but rather that you simply keep the memory of Margaret in your heart.

Please share your condolences and memories with the family at www.martinson.info

Arrangements are with the Martinson Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Leelanau.