Mrs. Bernice D. Mueller

Bernice Mueller, 91, of Columbia, passed away on Sunday, April 12, 2015. She was a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, godmother, and friend to all. Most important to her, she was a child of God. She was born Bernice Dorthea Wehmeyer in Anderson, Texas on February 22, 1924, the oldest daughter of William and Malinda Schafer Wehmeyer. She had two brothers and four sisters. After graduating from high school, Bernice moved to Houston, Texas where she was employed as a secretary. It was in Houston that she met her future husband, Theodore Mueller. They married on November 24, 1951 in Anderson, TX. She accompanied her husband across the eastern United States and briefly to Kaiserslautern, Germany, as he moved toward getting his PhD in analytical chemistry. She settled with him and their three boys in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1961 and remained there until February of 2014, living in the same house for almost 53 years. Because of declining health, she and her husband moved to Columbia, South Carolina in February of 2014. Theodore passed away in June of the same year. Although Bernice loved her family fiercely, her first love was always her Creator. Her faith was strong and passionate. She truly believed that a Christian’s duty was to love and serve everyone. When she wasn’t taking care of her husband and her “boys”, she could be found at church, working with other women there. In the mid-60’s, she went with other women of the church to the nearby state psychiatric hospital where they would have parties, picnics, and celebrations for the women who were placed there. She would also take some of these women out to lunch on their birthdays. She always referred to them as her friends. Because her family could not possibly eat all that she baked, she would take cookies, pies, cakes, and bread to neighbors and sick church members frequently. Visitors in church often found themselves eating Sunday lunch at our home after services. When her children were grown, she volunteered for the overnight shift at Contact, a local telephone crisis center. While living in Vienna, Austria in the 1980’s, she wrote long letters to family members daily. Almost every letter contained a story of meeting young Americans who were alone in the city and taking them to restaurants, concerts, or simply home for a home-cooked meal. Near the end of her life at the retirement home, she tried to work just as hard as the staff did. She would help them clean her apartment and always offered them a meal or a place to take a nap if they felt so inclined. This is just a small sample of how she spent her days in service to others. Her sons remember her as patient, loving, and kind. She never lifted a hand against her children unless it was to call her husband to tell him what they had done. Her three daughters-in-law would all agree that they were accepted and cherished from the moment they met her. However, she had a mischievous side to her as well. As a schoolgirl in a small farming community quickly realizes, the opportunity to interact with live animals was always there. So, it seemed only natural to place a live chicken in the teacher’s desk before school started. The teacher’s reaction when he opened the drawer was one of her favorite childhood memories. Bernice was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 62 years, Theodore Rolf Mueller; sisters, Lela and Evelyn; brothers, William and Thomas; and son, Michael. She is survived by sisters, Marjorie and Amelia; sons, Rudy Mueller (Nancy), Jon Mueller (Rita), and Tim Mueller (Anne); grandchildren, Ted Mueller (Kate), Kristin Mueller, Kelly Mueller, Lisa Mueller, Ryan Mueller, Laura Mueller, and Daniel Mueller; and great-grandchildren, Charlotte Mueller and Noah Mueller. A memorial service Mrs. Mueller will be held 10:30 o’clock, Thursday, April 16th, at the Rice Estates Chapel, Columbia, with Chaplain Scott Holland and The Rev. Paul Wollner officiating. A second memorial service will be held at Peace Lutheran Church in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday, April 18th, at 4:00 p.m. Memorials may be made to the Rice Estates, 100 Finley Rd, Columbia, SC 29203; Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 3909 Forest Dr, Columbia, SC 29204; or to Peace Lutheran Church, 621 N Cedar Bluff Rd, Knoxville, TN 37923. Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, is assisting the family in Columbia.

Tributes

Mrs. Bernice D. Mueller

February 22, 1924 - April 12, 2015