Maj-Lis Hagglund
Maj-Lis Hagglund
Maj-Lis Hagglund, 91, of Great Falls, Virginia, formerly of Jamestown, New York, peacefully entered heaven on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025, surrounded by her family. The daughter of the late Valborg Stokes and the late Algot Eastman, Maj-Lis was born in Bjasta, Sweden, the only girl of four children. Always a calm, sensible and incredibly kind person, she became known for sayings like: “Do what you can, while you can, and when you can’t do it anymore, you’ll have no regrets,” as well as, “Let’s just do what makes sense.” Maj-Lis lived those mantras every day.
As a teen, Maj-Lis and her family moved to the U.S., where she graduated from Jamestown High School in Jamestown, New York. Recently off the boat from Sweden, she qualified to represent her school in the spelling bee – even though English was her second language. Not long after, she won The Miss Chrysler Competition, which sent her to New York City to meet with the actress Mary Ann Mobley. She eventually moved back to Sweden, where she met the love of her life, Arne, at a local dance. After receiving the King’s permission (because Arne wasn’t yet 21 years old), the two married and moved to the United States on their honeymoon. Fifty-four years later, Maj-Lis and Arne were honored to host the succeeding King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Sylvia of Sweden, during their visit to Jamestown.
In the seven years before Maj-Lis’ girls were born, she worked as a bookkeeper for General Motors Acceptance Corp. and found great satisfaction in balancing to the penny every day, without a calculator. Then, as a mother and caregiver of nearly everyone in her life, she modeled compassion, dedication, hard work and boundless love. She was a baker, a knitter, a 500 Rummy player, a nutrition expert, a charter member of the West Ellicott Open, and a true friend. When a close friend was in the hospital dying of cancer, Maj-Lis drove 3 hours a day to visit – for nearly three months. When her mother had a stroke and entered a nursing home, she visited daily – or multiple times a day – with a bright smile and warmth for everyone she saw.
Her grandchildren will particularly remember her incredible baked goods, her calm, always reassuring voice and her love of dancing, which continued into her years at Brightview Great Falls in Virginia. Arne led her to the music every chance he got, until her daughter Elizabeth became her dance partner. Her eldest daughter, Ann-Louise, brought beams of joy through Swedish songs sung over Facetime when she couldn’t join in person.
Maj-Lis is survived by her daughters, Ann-Louise (John) Roginson of Amherst, NY and Elizabeth (Mark) Spoto of Reston, VA; as well four grandchildren: Lisa Roginson of Truckee, CA; Kevin Roginson of Amherst, NY; Maia Spoto of Los Angeles, CA; Nicholas Spoto of Reston, VA; and her youngest brother, Ulf Eastman of Costa Mesa, CA. She also leaves cousins, nieces and nephews in the United States, Sweden and Australia.
She is preceded in death by her loving husband of nearly 64 years, Arne Hagglund, as well as her brothers, Willard Eastman, Wills Eastman and niece Christine Lockwood.
The family will receive friends for a time of visitation from 1-2 pm Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, at Lind Funeral Home. The celebration of life for Maj-Lis will follow at 2pm Saturday, Sept. 6, at Lind’s.
The 2 pm service will be livestreamed via Lind Funeral Home’s Facebook page.
Burial will be in Lake View Cemetery.
The family would like to thank the caring staff at Comfort Today Adult Day Care in Jamestown, as well as the compassionate and loving caregivers at Brightview Great Falls in Virginia who joined us in loving our parents through the end. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes a donation to Teepa Snow’s “Snow Approach Foundation.” Teepa Snow is a leading educator on dementia and its care, whose mission is to improve the lives of people with dementia and their caregivers.
https://snowapproach.org/donate/ or to a dementia research organization such as: https://giving.ucsf.edu/fund/alzheimer-memory-center-ucsf-fresno.
Condolences for Maj-Lis’ family may be left at lindfuneralhome.com.