Relda May Muller 1920-2010

MULLER RIES KRAMER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 3/16/2011 at 19:54:17

Sioux City Journal
26 August 2010

SIOUX CITY -- Relda May Muller, 90, a former one-room school teacher passed away peacefully Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010, in Sioux City. Her most recent home was Northern Hills Retirement Community.

Friends and family are invited to attend a memorial services at 7 p.m. Friday at Crescent Park United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Merrill Muller (Relda's son) and the Rev. Scott Squires officiating. Burial of the ashes will be in Lennox Cemetery, Lennox, S.D. Visitation will be 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home.

Relda was born April 9, 1920, in Freeman, S.D., the daughter of Gottfried and Minnie (Ries) Kramer. She was raised in Freeman and attended Freeman Academy, graduating in 1939. She attended Morningside College from 1945 to 1947. She earned her bachelor of arts degree from Marycrest College in 1975.

Relda married Henry N. Muller on April 14, 1945, in Freeman. She taught at the Walt School, a one-room schoolhouse in rural South Dakota from 1939 to 1940 and later from 1942 to 1945. From 1941 to 1942, she taught in Lennox, S.D. After graduating from Marycrest, she educated students at Visitation School in Kewanee, Ill. from 1975 to 1988. Her teaching experience included substituting in Iowa, Illinois and New York. Her vocation included helping at Methodist Sunday School. She shared her love of reading by serving as the librarian in Cambridge, Ill., from 1963 to 1972. Her husband, Henry, died on June 13, 2005, in Sioux City.

Relda cherished traveling with her beloved Henry. The highlights of their travels included numerous countries in Europe including Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, France, England, Switzerland and Germany. Relda was fluent in the German language, having been raised in a home where her parents spoke German. An exceptional cook and seamstress, she enjoyed opening her home to family and friends. She touched the lives of many people with her smile and generosity. She consistently maintained a sweet, loving nature that enfolded everyone. She enjoyed playing softball in her younger years and was on the Crescent Park Hardware bowling team. She also had a circle at Crescent Park United Methodist Church named after her "the Relda Circle".

Relda will be forever remembered by her devoted six children, Miriam (Muller) of Albuquerque, N.M., Dr. Merle and Debra Muller of Sioux City, Melnor Muller and Billie Clark of Albuquerque, the Rev. Merrill and Deborah Muller of Sioux City, Merilee and Barry Moskowitz of Moline, Ill., and Marianne Raye Muller of Geneseo, Ill.; 10 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and a brother, Glendon Kramer of Freeman, S.D.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; a brother, Willard; and a sister, Elsie.

Memorials have been established in her name at the American Diabetes Association and the Freeman Academy.