Melinda Mae Hildreth Honkala, 76, of Richmond, NH passed away on January 31, 2026. She was born on July 21, 1949, in Keene, NH daughter of June Mattson and Henry Hildreth, and stepdaughter of Walter Mattson. She was the devoted wife of Michael Honkala for 23 years and loving mother to Mark Magoon and daughter-in-law Carolyn of New Jersey and proud grandmother of Megan Magoon of New Jersey, Mark Magoon of North Carolina, and Tyler Magoon of Keene. She was previously Melinda Glenn of Winter Park, Florida and in her youth Melinda Magoon of Massachusetts. Melinda was predeceased by her son James Magoon of Troy. The apple of her eye was her great granddaughter, Isabella Magoon. She is survived by her two sisters, Melanie Lovering of Dover and Pam Blair of Walpole.

Melinda was a kind, caring and peace-loving person. She was brave, courageous and loving in the face of Alzheimer's Disease.

She was a lover of nature, servant to her community and fierce feminist and passionate activist. She loved gardening and her canning won ribbons at the Cheshire Fair. She was good at making quilts which brought joy to her loved ones. Kayaking was her recreation and passion for many years. She was a big dog lover, owned Maine coon cats, and enjoyed raising her free-range chickens and selling her eggs to her church friends.

Among her volunteer involvement within her longtime membership at the Keene Unitarian Church was participation in the singing group Animaterra and as teacher of the UUC Teen Group for 12 years. Melinda also was a volunteer tutor for the Winchester GED Program.

Melinda earned her degree in Business at Keene State College through grit and determination, personal drive and ambition as a single mom. She was Cheshire County YMCA's Business Manager and Camp Takoda Registrar. Previous to this she worked for Kollmorgen of Keene and the Holstein Association of Brattleboro. When she lived in Florida, she worked for the defense industry as a Contracts Administrator and Security Specialist. In her earliest years, she had worked for Digital Electronic Corporation of Massachusetts.

She sold her house in Winchester NH to "build a dream house with the man of her dreams" environmentally responsible logger Michael Honkala. She enjoyed, and others admired, the peace and beauty of her log home in the country woodland setting in Richmond, NH.

A Celebration of Life will be at 11:00AM on Saturday, April 25th, 2026, at the Keene Unitarian Church, 69 Washington St, Keene, NH.

Services are under the care of Cheshire Family Funeral Home, Chapel, and Crematories. www.cheshirefamilyfh.com.