Margaret Jane Chelling

October 15, 1923 - March 7, 2023

Margaret Jane Chelling passed away surrounded by her loving family in the early morning hours of March 7, 2023. She was born Margaret Jane Ferguson in Rochester, MN on October 15, 1923 and raised in Red Wing, MN. She braved the Minnesota winters and excelled as a student, school journalist and actor in school plays. She was also named First Runner Up in the Miss Red Wing Pageant She played Lisa Doolittle in My Fair Lady and could recite lines with a perfect cockney accent throughout her life. Jane left Minnesota and drove to Los Angeles with her family as a young lady during World War II. Mom supported her nation working at the Douglas Aircraft Company during the war. She became a teacher and shortly after coming to Los Angeles met a fellow Minnesotan, Edward, a U.S. Army Air Forces crewman, at the Hollywood Palladium. Jane married Edward shortly after the war and raised a family of six children. She enjoyed traveling with Edward and the family, was a Dodgers and Lakers fan and was an active member of St. Pius X and Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishes. She was also an avid bowler in the Coffee Breakers League at Downey’s Del Rio Lanes and was bowling over one hundred well into her nineties.

Those of you reading this and who have gotten this far need to know that this may be a different kind of obituary. Yes, we all may peruse the obituary pages from time to time. And yes, everyone on these pages is a special human being to their friends and families. You’ve read the facts about our Mom, but Jane Chelling is truly extraordinary. Our Mom stayed here for us for more than ninety-nine years. She is the most loving, warm, gentle and beautiful person we’ve ever known. She is one of those special people who never in her entire life knowingly hurt anyone, deserted anyone or failed to be there when we needed her. She’s been here every second of our lives and she loves with all her heart. The world changes forever when a person who has always been there for you, who you knew would do anything for you, who you could always trust, leaves this world. That kind of love happens only once in a lifetime.

There are approximately 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Coincidentally that is just about the same number as the number of human beings who have ever lived on earth. So, when you look up at the stars in the night sky you are really looking at stars that represent humanity and the people you have loved. For us, the brightest of those stars will always be our Mom.

We’re not writing about Mom here in the past tense and that’s deliberate because we’re never going to say goodbye. Mom would be proud of that stubborn Irish side. Instead we’re simply saying to Mom: “Farewell for now and see you soon, this side or the other.” Mom’s Irish heart will understand and … she’ll live in our hearts forever. We love you so much Mom.