Catherine Muller died on Aug. 11, 2024.
She lived 100 wonderful years, a dozen of which were in Blythewood. She and her husband Fred moved there from Texas in 1959 because they wanted to raise their four children on what today is known as the Muller farm on Muller Road where he grew up. It was a wise decision.
Catherine was not from Blythewood, but she immediately became an active member of the community. An accomplished musician, she played the church organ at St. Mark’s and the piano for countless covered dish suppers at the Blythewood Community Center. She helped start and lead Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops. She was president of the PTA, improved the 12 grades at Blythewood School and once brought a world class pianist there for a performance of classical masterpieces.
In quiet ways, out of public view, she helped struggling families get on their feet, with her time and resources. She and Fred built the family farm into a showplace. They were aided mightily in that endeavor by Fred’s older brother Lee, who worked there every day.
Catherine and Fred sold the farm after their boys went off to college and their girls were finishing high school. The farm was almost 1,000 acres and, without the help of their children, keeping it up was to be a challenge. More than that, as Catherine and Fred said, “It has served its purpose.”
Fred and Catherine showed by example what it means to be loving parents and stalwart citizens.
Although they moved away, the family never really left Blythewood. A part of each of their hearts stayed behind. The stories of their happy and formative years there have become part of the Muller family lore and are told countless times not only within the family but to friends across the country who can scarce believe that such a time and place existed and eagerly ask for retellings.
What was Catherine’s secret for such a long and wonderful life? It is simple. She was eternally happy, loved life and other people, and had a taste for adventure, which she found in Blythewood during those years.
A funeral service will be held at Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Columbia at 2 p.m. on Aug. 24, followed by burial in the St. Mark’s graveyard in Blythewood, beside Fred. There will be a visitation at Ebenezer at 1 p.m., before the service.
Catherine and Fred’s children, Lee, Carl, Nancy and Ginnie, invite you to join them to celebrate her life and wish her good-bye. May her memory be eternal.