Taking Wing

There’s an old saying that the job of good parents is to give their children roots and wings—values to keep them grounded and the courage to follow their own dreams. I feel blessed because my mom and dad gave me both strong roots and strong wings.

I was born and raised in North Bend, Nebraska, population 1,213. Mom was a school nurse and Dad was the inspector at the meatpacking plant.

We lived in a house built in 1915 on Locust Street across from the town pool where, every summer, I was a lifeguard. As soon as my day was done, my friends and I rode our bikes down to the sandpit to fish for catfish and bluegill.

You couldn’t get in much trouble in North Bend, because there was always someone looking out for you. And with Mom as the nurse at North Bend Central, there was no way I could play hooky. Maybe once or twice I went to her office with an upset stomach. She’d give me some saltine crackers and make me take a nap on the cot for 20 minutes. That was all.

There were three of us kids—I was in the middle—and Dad taught us all in the catechism classes at church. His specialty was using pop songs to illustrate faith lessons. I don’t know how he managed to get a message out of Loggins and Messina or Kenny Rogers’ latest chart-topper, but he sure kept the class from getting bored.

We learned from both of our parents that prayer was part of everyday life. Mom had her prayer group, and in Dad’s case it made him one of the most upbeat, positive people I’ve ever met. When he had a bad day he’d just say, “If the sun’s not shining on me then at least it’s shining on someone else.” Talk about deep roots.

Who’d want to leave this idyllic, small-town life behind, right? Well, in my late teens I caught the acting bug, and my high school drama teacher, Ms. VonRein, had me compete in speech tournaments all around the state. Dramatic interpretation was my thing.

I remember coming home from one speech tournament and announcing I was going to move away so I could study acting. Mom was aghast—how was I going to make a living as an actress?—but Dad encouraged me right from the start. “You should do what you believe in,” he said. Time to spread my wings.

First stop was Kearney State College, then Northwestern University outside of Chicago, which had a top-notch drama program. It was pretty intimidating to be in a big city on a campus with tons of talented actors. Still, I started getting cast for some really good lead roles like Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire and Kate in The Taming of the Shrew.

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See a timeline of Marg's career!