Josephine "Josie" A. Seglund

Munising

Josephine “Josie” A. Seglund, age 98, of Munising, died Friday, November 28, 2025, at Munising Memorial Hospital following a brief illness. She was born at her family home in Forest Lake, Michigan to the late Joseph and Johanna (Tarc) Kraus. Josie grew up on her family’s farm in Melstrand, where her responsibilities included tending the family’s large garden. She subsequently carried a lifelong loathing of gardening of any kind. While she was young, Josie would play the guitar and sing with her sister Mary at the community dances at the Slovenian Hall in Traunik. She graduated from Wm. G. Mather High School in 1945. Josie married Richard O. Seglund on January 17, 1948, and they moved to East Lansing while Dick attended MSU and Josie worked at a bank until their son Bruce was born. After graduation they briefly moved back to the UP, where daughter Kathi was born, before Dick’s job with the US Forest Service brought them to many new places, including Milwaukee, Virgina, and the Lansing area, where daughter Jan was born. They eventually made Holt their home. No matter where they were living, they always came back to the UP for Christmas and summer vacations to spend time with family and friends. Eventually, they purchased land and made camp right next to Josie’s family farm (though far from the hated garden). After Dick preceded her in death in 1988, Josie made Munising her home again in the summer, and would drive downstate until she was well into her 80s to spend her winters with her kids. She was highly social, playing cards with friends weekly and visiting the Senior Center several times a week. She zealously protected time for her coffee klatsch, a group of Munising women who met for coffee, toast, and chitchat about Munising happenings every week for more than 70 years. Membership shifted over the years, but included sister-in-law Pat Seglund, Dorothy Henriksen, Eleanor Johnson, Ruth Thorrington, Evelyn Bashaw, Anne Graves, Lillian Kelto, Marilyn Seaglund, Joyce Webber, and Mary Lou Nikkari. (The kids were careful to never schedule important events to conflict with coffee klatsch. That included weddings.) Possessed of a raging sweet tooth, Josie’s joy was baking, and she was very, very good at it. She was never happier than when she was covered in flour (she was good at baking, but by no means neat) and sampling sweet treats. She learned cake decorating skills and recipes from Aunt Virgie Seglund, and baked birthday and wedding cakes for friends and family in Lansing. A cinnamon roll recipe from sister-in-law Pat Seglund became a family favorite. She inherited a recipe for potica, a Slovenian nut roll, from her mother, and taught the painstaking process to Kathi and daughter-in-law Connie. For many years, the three of them would set aside a day each year to produce 20 or so loaves for family and friends. They tried to con Jan into joining them for the fun, but she was too smart for that. Josie and Connie tweaked a pasty recipe that also resulted in another annual undertaking, making pasties for the whole family, and Connie has painstakingly documented the process in hopes that someone, anyone, in the next generation will take it on. No luck so far. Josie would spend time each Christmas baking cookies with her grandchildren, always throwing in a few new recipes, and she and her son-in-law Gordon (who shares her love of all things sugar) spent many hours baking and sampling new cookie recipes. Josie’s Christmas fudge and toffee were legendary.

Josie was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and of Sacred Heart Church.

Josie is survived by her children – Bruce (Connie) Seglund of Wetmore, Kathi (Gordon Mullholland) Seglund of Marquette, and Jan Seglund of Stevensville, MD; grandchildren – Jennifer (Darren) Miner, Nicole (Jeff) Cunningham, and Jake Miklos; great-grandchildren – Alisyn, Drew, Daxton, Josie, and Justin; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents – Joseph and Johanna; husband – Dick; sister – Mary Starzyk; and brothers-in- law James Seglund and wife “Tootie”, brother-in-law Wilfred “Scow” Seglund and wife Pat, and brother-in-law Ragnor “Sonny” Seglund and ex- wife Wanda. (Yes, the family has wondered where those names came from…)

Josie’s funeral Mass, burial, and celebration of life will take place in the spring.