Beata Michalik

Celebration Announcement A Celebration of Life for Bea Michalik will be held at Cardwell Hill Cellars from 3-7pm on June 22nd, 2025 (24241 Cardwell Hill Dr, Philomath, OR). Friends and family are invited to join together and celebrate Bea. Bea's husband Bill and daughter Olivia also look forward to the opportunity to thank everyone who provided love and companionship during Bea's life, as well as support and community during her illness. Music was important in Bea's life, so local favorite performers "Summer of Love" will play. In addition, Bea was a long time member of Jubilate!, the Corvallis Women's Choir. Choir members have accepted an invitation to share some songs. Those who wish to share memories and thoughts will also have that opportunity. Food and beverages will be provided. Spouses and family are welcome. Family friend Jana Cowan is organizing a hike to precede the celebration. The hike will take place from Fitton Green to Cardwell Hill (about 4 miles). Please email Jana (janacowan7@gmail.com) to be included in the details for the hike. For both the hike and the party, parking may be limited, so car-pooling is recommended. Limited shuttle services to/from the Benton County Fairgrounds parking lot is being arranged. Please contact Bill Bogley at bogleyw@yahoo.com for further information. Beata Anna Michalik passed away at home in Corvallis, Oregon on Friday, December 6, 2024. Bea was born in Warsaw, Poland on July 9, 1965. In 1979, she moved with her mother to Frankfurt in (West) Germany, where she later completed her Diplom in Mathematics (equivalent to Masters degree) at the J. W. Goethe Universitat in 1993. Later that year, Bea moved to Corvallis and married William A. Bogley. In addition to being a devoted mother of two, Bea was very active in the Corvallis community, including leadership roles with the da Vinci Days Children’s Village, the Franklin School Parent Teacher Organization, and Jubilate!, the Corvallis Women’s Choir. She also spent many joyful hours on court at the Timberhill Tennis Club and in city league volleyball. Bea worked as an Instructor of Mathematics at Linn-Benton Community College for many years, including a term as President of the Part-Time Faculty Association. During her tenure as president, Bea oversaw renewal of the PTFA contract with the college and also served on the LBCC presidential search committee. Bea also founded an annual faculty orientation and professional development program for incoming faculty at LBCC. Bea was passionate about animal rights. Her Thanksgiving save-the-turkey letters to the editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times were part of the local cultural landscape. Bea was diagnosed with ALS in January 2022, by which time she was unable to continue teaching, singing, or playing tennis. While at home during the past 2+ years, Bea had many lively and faithful visitors, which gave her joy as she navigated life with ALS. Family connections were a priority for Bea, and she kept these strong over the years via multiple trips and extended stays in both Warsaw and Frankfurt, as well as seasonal holidays in East Leland, Michigan. Bea was preceded in death by her father Janusz Michalik (Warsaw) and her mother Janina Greiner (Frankfurt). Bea’s ashes will be laid to rest in a family plot at historic Brodno Cemetery in Warsaw. Bea is survived by her husband William Bogley and children Ian and Olivia Bogley (Corvallis), her sister Paulina Michalik and step-mother Krystyna Michalik (Warsaw), and her aunt Lena Axmacher (Frankfurt). Gifts in Bea’s memory can be sent to PETA (peta.org) or to ALS Northwest (alsnorthwest.org). Information Regarding Bea’s Funeral in Warsaw, Poland Bea’s funeral took place at Brodno Cemetery in Warsaw on Thursday, February 13, 2025. Among the friends and family present were a number of childhood friends of Bea’s father, Misio. I requested that they be invited because Misio was widely loved and because everyone knew that Misio and Bea were very dear to each other. Olivia and I flew to Europe during the previous week, spending the first five days of our trip near Frankfurt am Main, which is where Bea lived when I met her in 1991. We stayed with Bea’s school friend Britta and her partner Martin in Mainz. We had a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon walk along the Rhine River in scenic Eltville, and were joined there by Elisabeth Retsch, who was a very close friend of Bea’s. With Elisabeth we shared memories of holidays taken together, plus photos from long ago. It was so good to remember the happiness of those days when we were all young, free, and healthy. Olivia and I also joined Bea’s friend Ruth Busch and her family for a delightful dinner of German “pancakes” in nearby Taunnus. Ruth and her husband Wolfgang were also friends of Bea from those earlier days. Both Ruth and Elisabeth attended the wedding when Bea and I were married in Corvallis in 1993. We also visited Lena Axmacher, the sister of Bea’s mother. Lena shared many stories about her sister and about her own journey from Poland to the West in 1968. Bea’s mother Nina joined Lena in Frankfurt, then in West Germany, in 1978, and Bea followed the following year, just before martial law was declared in Poland in response to the Solidarity strikes and uprising. Today we stay in touch with Lena through our good friend Ilona Krzykawske here in Corvallis. Ilona spent countless hours with Bea during her illness and was present when she died. On that day, as so often before, Ilona connected Bea and Lena with a phone call, with Ilona doing the talking on our end, though Lena is pretty capable of carrying both ends of a lively conversation on her own! It was after speaking with Lena one last time on the morning of December 6 that Bea finally decided it was time. She passed shortly after Ilona disconnected the call. By now, Olivia and I are also Lena’s closest remaining family. Here we understand the depth of our family connection to both Frankfurt and Warsaw. Even now that Bea is gone, we have family there. The trip from Frankfurt to Warsaw was uneventful, which was a bit surprising, since I was carrying Bea’s ashes in my carry-on luggage. I’d heard that the German authorities are very strict about possession of human remains, so I was ready to brave the bureaucratic storm! I had armed myself with official paperwork in three languages. As it happened, no one questioned our special cargo and everything went smoothly. All of that hard-won paperwork proved unnecessary! Warsaw felt more like coming home than ever. Our small apartment on Arabska Street in the Saska Kepa neighborhood of Warsaw was clean and inviting, thanks to Ania, a Ukrainian friend of the family who takes care of it and sometimes stays there. When war broke out in Ukraine in 2022, Ania stayed at Arabska with one of her twin daughters and her two children as they took refuge from the fighting around Kyiv. Ania remains in Warsaw, but her daughter and grandchildren have returned to be with husband and father in Kyiv. As always, winter in Poland is very cold, but the family welcome was very warm from Krystyna (Bea’s step-mother), Paulina (Bea’s half-sister), and Malga (Bea’s cousin). Olivia loves being in Warsaw, and as usual spent many happy hours with her cousins Misha and Nella, who are the teenage daughters of Paulina and her partner Rafal. I spoke at length with Krystyna about life and Bea. Like me, Krystyna was also recently released from a long-term caregiving role when she lost her mother Evgenia, who passed away at age 98 last spring. Krystyna and I are close friends and we have opened our hearts to each other. Her lovely dog Aster is a constant companion; the two of them are local celebrities. Krystyna has infectious warmth, a bright smile, and cosmopolitan style. Aster is sleek and smart. In the evenings I would sometimes take him for his evening walk around the neighborhood. He even tolerated the leash when I was with him; he knows that I love Krystyna like a mother, so that makes me ok with him. We also had incredibly warm visits with cousin Malga and and her husband Piotrek. Malga and Paulina have done everything for us in Warsaw. They took care of all the business when Bea’s mother Janina died in October of 2022. They continue to help us now with probate issues since Bea is gone. The funeral itself was well attended by family and friends. It was a secular service conducted entirely in Polish, with the exception of my eulogy. Bea’s sister Paulina was kind enough to translate for me in real time. We laughed and cried. This was the same room where the service was held for Bea’s father in 2014. Then, sisters Bea and Paulina were the chief mourners. Following the service, we processed behind a hearse bearing Bea’s ashes to the gravesite. As we arrived at the gravesite, a trumpeter played Taps, then Amazing Grace. It was moving and peaceful. Bea lies with her father and his parents, which is according to her wishes. Brodno is a massive cemetery, with approximately 1.5 million souls buried there. The address of the grave is 34 G-2-1 for any who may wish to visit while in Warsaw. It was too cold to engrave the stone in February, but that has since been done. Following the interment, Olivia and I hosted a meal for family and friends at a restaurant in Saska Kepa. It was a happy affair. Bea would have been delighted to see the generations there, all these important people in her life.

Tributes

Beata Michalik

July 9, 1965 - December 6, 2024