Finding closure: Scholarship created in Linda Muggli's memory

“Linda said, 'No, not today,'” Budris recalled. “Her face looked so strained.”

Unable to reach out to her lifelong friend, Budris said she was needed in Rochester to help another friend through radiation treatments. Not long after, Muggli was dead.

“I remember thinking, 'Something is wrong with Linda,'” Budris recalled of that day after church. “Then she was gone. That was the last time I saw her.”

Muggli died Nov. 26, 2010 after a totem pole she was carving fell on her. In January, more than two years after her death, Linda Muggli's husband, Carl Muggli, pleaded guilty under an agreement with prosecutors to second-degree unintentional murder of his wife. He was later sentenced to 15 years in prison, the maximum penalty under sentencing guidelines.

Shocked and distraught by the tragedy, Budris said she was unable to find closure following Linda Muggli's death, especially because she was in Rochester during Muggli's funeral.

“I couldn't get back (for the funeral) and that was really hard,” she said. “I've been left with a feeling of not knowing how to grieve.”

Feeling empty and missing Muggli, Budris said she brainstormed for a way to keep one of her friend's biggest passions alive.

“Linda loved art and nature,” Budris said. “So I decided to create a scholarship in her memory that will be given out to someone persuing a future in the arts.”

Budris said when she decided to establish a memorial scholarship in remembrance of Muggli, she sought help from several friends who helped kick start the project.

Among those friends were Phil and Ellen Hart, the owners of the Gateway Store in Kabetogama, who donated a 3-foot totem Muggli carved to be raffled off to raise money for the scholarship.

“It is just gorgeous,” Budris said of the totem. “It was fitting to give that away as the first-place prize. Linda worked so hard at creating her business and creating totems that I just thought this is the most perfect prize.”

Other raffle prizes include an oil painting by Jim Trandel, a basket of books by Mary Casanova, a basket by LeeAnn Meer and a wind chime made by Marsha Aronson Wall. Budris said Wall and Muggli were best friends and with the wind chime is a personal note to the winner explaining the friendship between Wall and Muggli.

The scholarship will be available next spring to a Koochching County high school seniors who is seeking higher education in an art-related field.

“It isn't only painting, sculpting and carving,” Budris said. “It is music, writing and anything to do with the arts.”

Budris said she'd like to generate enough funds to create an ongoing scholarship, but “I don't know if that is possible,” she said.

“I'm taking it one year at a time,” she added. “I want this scholarship to be right in the neighborhood of $1,000. We're not there yet, but we're closing in on that amount.”

Budris said she wants the recipient of the scholarship to know how much Muggli appreciated nature, creating beautiful artwork and what a soft, sensitive and caring person she was towards others – especially children.

Budris said she sold tickets to a couple from Illinois who she spotted admiring Muggli's work on a totem pole at Jim's Ash Trail Store.

“I told them Linda's story and it touched them so much that between the two of them, they purchased 40 tickets,” she said.

In addition to what is generated through raffle sales, Budris said half of the proceeds raised by the 5-kilometer race held during the Lady Slipper Festival in June were donated to the Muggli Memorial Scholarship.

And as her eyes welled with tears, Budris said talking about Muggli is a reminder of how much she misses her friend.

“From both sides of this terrible tragedy, it has been tough,” she said. “I feel for Linda's family and Carl's family, too.”

Budris said the experience of organizing the scholarship has helped achieve the closure she was looking for following Linda Muggli's death.

“I just miss her dearly,” she said. “I think she would be very happy to know how much her friends love her.”

Raffle tickets are available at the Gateway Store, Bait N' Bite, Ash Trail Lodge, Sandy's Place, the Coffee Landing Cafe and through Jill Kiner.

The drawing for winners is scheduled for Oct. 1 at the Gateway Store.