Margaret Maude Felt, 90, passed away peacefully on July 24, 2025. She was born June 26, 1935, in Muskegon, the daughter of Dennis B. and Beatrice M. (Mongeau) Ward.

Margaret attended Muskegon Public Schools and spent her teenage years helping run the family’s beloved Root Beer stand. Even then, she was a girl of gumption and grace—active in drama and writing clubs, pouring her whole heart and boundless curiosity into everything she did.

After high school, she attended Central Michigan University, where she earned her two-year teaching certificate. This achievement led her to a position on the faculty at Reeths-Puffer Schools. It was during this time, through a bit of fate and encouragement from a friend that she met Chuck Felt. After just one date, they both knew they’d found their match. Their early romance was filled with brief, casual outings tucked between Margaret’s full course load of teaching duties, until Chuck was sent to Korea. While he was away, Margaret continued her studies, her work in the classroom, and wrote to him every single day.

When Chuck returned, the two married that June. Military orders soon swept them off to Pennsylvania, where Margaret, despite holding a Michigan teaching certificate, landed a position at the Valley Forge Schoolhouse. With her clever pitch, sharp wit, and matter-of-fact charm, she was welcomed to teach a class of 24 students.

Before long, Margaret and Chuck returned home to Michigan, settling on a farm just outside of New Era with their growing family. There, Margaret balanced substitute teaching at New Era Elementary, leading the local 4-H sewing club, and raising their five children with tireless devotion. Her role as a teacher extended well beyond the classroom; she became a second mother to nieces, nephews, neighborhood kids, and every grandchild who passed through her door.

In the years that followed, Margaret took on work at Howmet Aerospace and also lent her time and talents to Felt Fabricating alongside Chuck and his brothers. She was never one to sit still; meeting every season of life with hands that built, sewed, painted, guided, and gave.

In the 1990s, Margaret fulfilled a long-held dream with Chuck and the family building a retirement home in Ferry, and not long after, gaining a winter home on Pine Island in Florida. Both became creative sanctuaries where her imagination flourished through her oil painting. With her brush, she captured the people and places she loved: windswept lighthouses, quiet beaches, vibrant gardens, her grandchildren, the old farmhouse, and the ever-changing skies over Lake Michigan.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Pentwater Artisan Learning Center, 780 East Park Street, Pentwater, MI 49449, to assist people in the community with opportunities to continue learning new things each day. 

In accordance with Margaret's wishes, cremation has taken place, and a celebration of life will be held at a later date. 

Margaret is survived by: her children, Paula (Jodi) Blackmore, Joseph (Dawn) Felt, Mary (Dan) Vos, Dennis (Lesley) Felt, and Edward (Lisa) Felt; sister, Suzie (Harold) Britton; 18 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and many cousins and other extended family members.

Margaret was preceded in death by: her parents, Dennis B. and Beatrice M. (Mongeau) Ward; and her beloved husband of 68 years, Charles “Chuck” Felt.

Harris Funeral Home, in Shelby, is in charge of arrangements.