Matt and Maggie Keller live a beautiful example of small-town life.
Work hard, play hard. Take care of your family and friends. Take advantage of the opportunities life gives you. And when life gives you hardships, become stronger.
Matt, a 2004 Marion graduate, and Maggie, a 2011 grad, have made a life for themselves on their little farm just a few miles southeast of Marion. Along with their four kids, the couple stays plenty busy throughout the year.
While Matt works as a diesel mechanic for the Ina Store, and Maggie works as a department analyst for the State of Michigan, it’s their life outside of work that they enjoy the most: Mud bogs, sporting events, tinkering on vehicles, raising beef cattle, and traveling on family vacations are just a few of the things that keep the Keller family busy these days.
We caught up with Matt and Maggie recently and learned more about their story. We learned that Matt and Maggie Keller are much more than just a couple of faces in the crowd.
Marion Press: Where were you born and raised?
Maggie: I was born in Cadillac and raised in Marion. Matt was born in Marquette, and raised, kind of, everywhere.
MP: What kept you busy growing up?
Maggie: Being outside, outside with my brothers. My dad was always outside, so with him it was always mushroom hunting, ice fishing, deer hunting. With my mom, she always liked to go on adventures, so we were always going someplace new.
Matt was always outdoors; always tinkering with stuff, even when he was little. Always tinkering with little contraptions.
MP: What are some of your favorite memories of growing up in Marion?
Maggie: Our small school; everybody knowing everybody. The kids I started kindergarten with were the same ones I graduated with.
MP: What kept you busy in school?
Maggie: I did not do sports; I was not athletic. My little brother got all the athleticism! But I did CTC – I did a co-op and started working at Northwestern Bank when I was 16.
MP: So you started off in banking?
Maggie: Yeah, and I stayed with the bank until I graduated. I actually went from Northwestern to Citizens in Marion, because it was closer to home. I worked at Citizens for a year or two, and then I went to work with my mom [Heather Root] for a year or two, and then I went to work for the state. And I’ve been with the state ever since.
MP: Tell us about your job.
Maggie: I’m a department analyst for State of Michigan with the Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Office.
My job is all about numbers and analytics. I handle five offices: Marquette, Gaylord, Cadillac, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo. I pay their utility bills, I do their fleet management, I do their contracts and bids for janitorial or lawn maintenance… that kind of stuff. I don’t manage people, but I manage offices, if that makes sense.
MP: What do you enjoy the most about your job?
Maggie: I like working with numbers, I really do. And I like working with different divisions and trying to solve problems for them.
MP: When you’re not working, what keeps the Keller family busy?
Maggie: Sports. My kids are in sports. My foster kid has the busiest schedule right now, but the kids all take turns with who has the busiest schedule.
MP: Tell us about your family.
Maggie: We have four kids: Landon is 16, our foster kid is 16, Penny is 8, and Weston is 6. Matt and I have been together since 2011, and we were married in 2017.
MP: And your family is big into mud bogging. Tell us about that.
Maggie: I married into that. Matt had that already started with a small group of friends. Now, it’s much bigger – last year we had about 1700 people – and this year we’re planning to have it be even bigger.
It’s fun; we like it. We keep getting more and more involved in it, and this year we’ll have more events. We’ll have a side-by-side race; we’re part of a mega-series truck race that spans multiple states – the purse for that is in Mississippi, and it’s $40,000. We’re doing a freestyle, where they go out there and try to put on a good show. We do a bounty-hole, which is where if they make it through this bottomless whole, they make money. And we’re doing a “run-what-you-brung” race – basically a derby, but for crappy old trucks.
MP: What do you enjoy the most about the mud bogging life?
Maggie: The friends that we make along the way; we meet so many people along the way.
[Matt gets home from his job at the Ina Store and enters the conversation]
MP: Matt, what keeps you busy in your free time?
Matt: Mud Bogging, working on equipment at home, or playing around on equipment in the garage. Our cows – we’ve been raising beef cattle. We’ve got 12 head, and then usually the babies we’ll finish them out. We stay pretty busy, that’s for sure.
Usually just spending time together as a family: playing games, doing family events. Going sledding or tubing, family vacations – going to Myrtle Beach, Florida, Alabama.
MP: And we know the mud bogging is a big part of your life. How’d that all get started?
Matt: So back in high school, you’d usually get bored on a weekend, so you’d have your friends over, and have a little bonfire. And we’d have fun with our mud trucks – usually with just a couple of friends. And then the next weekend, your friends would text a couple of their friends, and so you’d have a few more friends show up. Next thing you know, you’d have 100 people show up and you call it a mud bog.
It’s kind of amazing actually to look at something like that. It used to be 4 to 10 people going out and having fun – a little therapy, I guess you’d say – most people think you’re kind of crazy. But you just get to go out and forget about all the other problems in life.
MP: What do you enjoy the most about being a part of the Marion community?
Matt: I enjoy helping, and supporting, and doing my part for the community. I enjoy the small-town feel, and the fact that most everybody knows each other.
MP: Maggie mentioned that you kind of grew up all over the place.
Matt: I started out going to McBain as a little puppy. I went to Christian, and then Public, and then to Marion. Then I went to Reed City, and then I went to Kaleva-Norman Dickson – and from there I went to Brethren. In about 6th grade, my mom moved back to Marion, and that’s where I completed school.
MP: What are some of your favorite memories from growing up?
Matt: Just being out on the farm, free, working out on the farm. Enjoying the wild-blue-yonder; the cows, the animals, just being outdoors.
MP: Tell us a little bit about your job with the Ina Store. What do you do there, and what do you enjoy the most about it?
Matt: I’m an on-road diesel mechanic. I enjoy the challenge of it. You’re always working on something different. And you’re very well needed, because the cows have got to get fed, and the equipment has to get fixed in order to make that happen.
MP: What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Matt: I always had a phrase: “What don’t kill you, makes you stronger.” Basically, you’re challenges in life that bring you down, what don’t kill you, you can either let it beat you up, or you can change it and make a better person of yourself.
MP: Who have been some of your best role models?
Matt: Maggie’s grandpa, Gary Bandelow, he’s always been one who anytime I’m building something, or need help with something, he’s always there to help or give his opinion. He’s been one of my bigger role models.
