Patricia Mae Muller

Patricia Mae Muller, the daughter of Resor and Maude DuBois Cowan, was born October 10, 1927 in Cedar Rapids, IA.  Her childhood years were spent in Spencer, IA  and graduated from Spencer High School in 1945.  She attended Mason City Junior College and Iowa State Teacher’s College.  She taught in Ayrshire and Ft. Dodge. 

         Pat married Raymond Henry Muller on June 24, 1951 in Spencer, IA.  Throughout their life they lived in the communities of Norfolk, NE; Rapid City, SD; Rock Springs, WY; Topeka, KS, and Yankton, SD. Back in Norfolk, NE Pat was a school secretary and a teacher’s aide. Pat and her family moved back to Spencer, IA in 1976 when she joined in ownership of Ellerbroek’s Ladieswear with her sisters.  She retired in 1995 after 19 years in the women’s clothing business.  She was an active member of the Grace United Methodist Church in Spencer.  Pat was also active in her community as a member of the Spencer Business & Professional Women, being named as Woman of Year in 1987. She was also active with United Methodist Women and volunteered with Circle I , the church library, and the Spencer Hospital Auxiliary. They also enjoyed traveling throughout the United States.

     She passed away at St. Luke Lutheran Home in Spencer on November 19, 2020 at the age of 93.  Pat was preceded in death by her parents, her son Ted in early childhood, sister in infancy, brother-in-law Marvin McCauley, sister-in-law Gladys and husband Erdman Muller, her sister Joan and husband Merle Albright.

     Left to cherish her memory are her husband of 69 years, Ray Muller, as well as three sons: Lee of Ankeny, IA, Dan with his wife Lyn of Gainesville, GA, and Greg with his wife Sheryl of Fairburn, GA.  She is also survived by 8 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren, her sister Janice McCauley of Mason City, IA; other relatives and friends.

Gone from My Sight

I am standing upon the seashore.

  A ship, at my side, spreads her

 white sails to the morning breeze

 and starts for the blue ocean.

  She is an object

 of beauty and strength.

I stand and watch her until,

at length, she hangs like a

 speck of a white cloud just

 where the sea and sky come

 to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says:

 “There, she is gone!”

Gone where?

Gone from my sight.

  That is all.

She is just as large in mast

and hull and spar as she was

 when she left my side,

 and she is just as able to bear

 the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me,

 not in her.  And just at the

 moment when someone at my side says

 “There, she is gone,”

there are other eyes watching

 her coming, and other voices

 ready to take up the glad shout,

 “Here she comes!”

And that is dying.

                      --Henry Van Dyke

"Blessed Assurance"
"Freely, Freely"
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness"

PIANIST
Ray Meyer


"How Great Thou Art"

sung by Ecaterina Lyn