Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween

from Luigi and 2 of the cutest little angels this side of heaven!

Also in October ...

We traveled back to Door County, this time with the kids, to attend Jerry's visitation and funeral.  It was a long, emotional week and very difficult for our young kids to comprehend.  Once the services were all over we spent some time touring the peninsula with my parents who were visiting up there for the first time.  The kids called the shots and we took them to some of their favorite locations.  I also managed to get some really great fall photos of the kids while at Koepsel's Market:

When we returned from our trip to Door County we discovered that, at some point over the weekend, all of the leaves had fallen from our trees, so we had lots of raking to do ... and lots of jumping in piles of leaves!

We had collected a bunch of pumpkins from our 2 visits to Door County this month, so mommy and daddy let the kids do what each of them is able to let them do with pumpkins ...

Mommy let them paint a pumpkin ....

... and daddy handled the carving of the pumpkins ...

And finally, Jack's preschool class had their annual Halloween parade and party.  Jack played lots of games, had some treats, and even found a Mario to go along with his Luigi costume. 

How cute are they?!!

In Loving Memory

Jerry Muehleck

1938-2011

PSALM 122

I rejoiced when they said to me,

"Let us go to the house of the Lord."

And now our feet are standing

within your gates, O Jerusalem.

For the sake of my family and friends,

let me say, "Peace upon you."

For the sake of the house of the Lord, our God,

I will seek good things for you.

(from the mass card given out at Jerry's wake)

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The eulogy Mark delivered at his father's funeral mass:

On behalf of my mom, sisters and family I want to sincerely thank all of you for being here, especially those of you who traveled a great distance to be here in Door County, the place my father loved best. I've often said that, to me, this place and the cottage are home. Throughout my life we have moved a few times and our family has gone through many changes, but this place has been my constant. Just like my parents have always been our family's constant.



He loved being up here and I'm so glad that he had a chance to spend so much time up here over the last several years. He loved nothing more than his morning breakfast time @ the Sandpiper, having coffee with the guys at the coffee shop and hanging out w/ the many friends he made in his Model A club. He just never sat still. He didn't wait for things to happen, he made them happen. He didn't let time or the years slow him down, he was determined to do what he wanted when he wanted, and is probably one of the few people who could say he died w/out many regrets for the things in life he didn't do.


He had a great relationship as an adult w/ each of his brothers and grieved both of their deaths in the last several years. They each lived in different states but kept in close contact, traveling to visit one amother or vacationing together when they could. He was devoted to maintaining his relationships w/ his sisters-in-laws and spent time with both Joan and Anita just in the past month. He was also lucky enough to count my mother's sisters Marie, Barbara and Liz, her brother John and my uncles John, Dick and Wally as his friends.


He spent 51 years as a husband to my mother, a role model for the rest of us about faithfulness, dedication and love. They had just as many commonalities as they had differences, but their marriage showed us all that differences could be accepted and appreciated and people could be faithful and devoted while at the same time supportive of one another's endeavors, dreams and goals. Watching him and mom taught me that life is going to bring both good times and bad, lots of challenges, lots of changes, but you can stick together throught it all and never let something come in between you and your devotion and love.


Dad formed a special relationship and bond w/ each of us kids, always seeing the best in each of us and sharing his opinions and advice w/ wisdom that we appreciated. Most of the time. My sister Beth was his go-to for early breakfasts, auctions and flea markets, and the one he could count on going with him to anything my mom didn't share an interest in. He often commented on her determination and independence, which the rest of us knows come from him. He loved to tell stories of the years that he butted heads with Jen as a teenager, but it was obvious that he was behind her and beside her in every stage of her life, always as willing to fight for her as he was to butt heads with her. Probably because she gets her strong will from him. Mary Karen was always my dad's delight. She never gave him problems as a kid and rarely caused him any worry as an adult. She inherited his generosity and ability to see good in everyone, or ways to encourage those who need it most.


He took the time to get to know and love each of his 13 grandchildren and was so proud of each of them. He taught them like he taught me and my sisters that you should always play hard and play to win, fairly if possible, but at all costs. It didn't matter if you were 40 years old or 4, he was going to beat you at whatever game you were playing. Each of those 13 kids would be hard pressed to think of anything he ever missed in their lives. He and my mom make it a priority to be there for every graduation, communion, birthday and even to see you play tball, softball, baseball, hockey or soccer. To see you act in a play, sing w/ the choir or perform in a band or orchestra. To visit you in college or when you move out of state, to always have a basket for you at easter and a stocking at christmas. He hid the eggs for the hunt, ran around town helping grandma get just the perfect christmas gift, and made sure there was always a parade to start your 4th of july and a bonfire to end it. You've all kept him young and busy and whether or not you realize it yet, his devotion to you has shaped your lives in ways you'll always remember. And you guys will be the ones that inspire grandma to carry on his legacy and devotion to his family.


Besides the social side of my dad there was also a quiet, introverted side. He was most at ease when alone puttering around his garage, walking his dogs on the beach, painting, or working on puzzles like Soduko. He had a sharp mind and a quick wit about him. His intelligence always earned him attention but it was his compassion and devotion that earned him respect. My dad spent over 40 years working at Steelcon, and I was lucky enough to have spent many years working for him and learning from him. But I wasn't the only one. I've continued on to other employers in the industry, but I'm always coming across people that recognize the Muehleck name and speak fondly of the way they knew my dad, worked for him or did business w/ him over the years. He had a reputation as an honest businessman and I'll get to continue hearing of the legacy he left to the construction business. My dad had a deep faith in God, but was never one to ask him for any special favors. Just last week he and my mom went to the shrine of Our Lady of Hope here in Door Co with their good friends Pat and Red. While my mom was writing petitions for success and healing in my dad's upcoming surgery, he said that he wasn't comfortable asking for healing for himself when there were so many others worse off than him. No matter what was ailing him or what kind of pain he was in, he never complained. He carried on with determination and dignity and ending up leaving this Earth the same way he lived his life: quickly.


Just 6 days before he died I was leaving the cottage after coming up here to spend a beautiful fall weekend with my parents. My dad was never very demonstrative and we were never ones to hug but as I was leaving my dad put his arm around me in a half-embrace and said "goodbye buddy". It was rare enough that I even told my wife about it as we pulled out of the driveway.


We didn't know this was coming and none of us had a chance to really say our final goodbyes. But something I read this week in an email from a friend has stuck with me: we need to believe in the promise that one day we will see each other again. He's having the chance to be reunited w/ his parents and brothers and those that have gone before him, free of pain and any suffering. That's what I'm going to hold on to in the days and weeks and years to come. That's what I'm going to be there to remind my mom about and that's the message I'm going to teach my own children, along with all of the things that my dad taught me about being a husband, father, brother and friend.

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GERALD S. MUEHLECK 


Gerald "Jerry" S. Muehleck, passed away Oct. 16, 2011. He was born on March 25, 1938 in Waukesha, WI and graduated from Marquette University. Jerry was united in marriage to Carolyn (Gillich) Muehleck in 1960. He was the founder and president of Steelcon Corporation, a general contracting company, for 40 years. Jerry retired in Baileys Harbor, WI. He is survived by his loving wife; daughters Elizabeth Stady, Jennifer Phillips, Mary Karen (Robert) Reynolds; and his son Mark (Denise) Muehleck; and 13 grandchildren. Visitation will be held at Stella Maris Catholic Church in Sister Bay, WI on Oct. 21, 2011 at 10 a.m. followed by funeral Mass at noon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to the American Diabetes Association . A memorial service is being planned for Orland Park.

Published in Chicago Tribune on October 19, 2011

Goodbye

October 7th - 10th

October began with a special treat.  My parents graciously agreed to watch the kids while Mark and I took a long weekend trip up to Door County to visit his parents.  We hadn't been to Door County for a fall visit in a long time and it had certainly been years since we went up there on our own, without the kids.  I felt guilty about not telling them exactly where we were going, but I knew they'd be awful sad about missing out on a trip to Door County and the chance to visit Grandma and Buck. So, we decided to simply tell them we were going to Wisconsin without saying exactly where and took the long, relaxing drive up there on our own.

It was a perfect fall weekend, weather-wise.  In fact, it was unseasonably warm and we were almost over-dressed with the jeans and sweatshirts we had packed!  We tried, unsuccessfully, to capture some of the beautiful fall colors in the changing leaves on film.  Jerry drove us all over the peninsula that weekend, but we seemed to "just miss" the colors that he and Carolyn had just seen a few days earlier.  Despite that, we really enjoyed letting him take us on driving trips which included the full horror experience of Jerry's aggressive driving style : )

I took very few pictures that weekend, something I'll always regret.  These shots were taken on our first full day there, some of the scenery we took in during our drive.



 When I marveled at the thousands of seagulls in this harbor, Jerry slammed on the brakes and reversed back to the perfect spot for me to take some pictures from the car.

 We stopped back at Europe Lake, a beautiful place that I had seen for the first time during a drive we took with the kids back in July.  It was the lake that Mark remembered his dad taking him to sail  his first sailboats as a young boy.

Mark had his dad stop along a country road to take a look at these goats, which Mark was hoping were of the fainting variety.  He yelled out the window hoping to see one faint, but they just scampered away out of sight.

We spent the rest of the weekend going to the Fall Festival in Egg Harbor, shopping at a few favorite stores, and eating the bowling alley fish fry and a fantastic dinner at Alexander's.  We helped Jerry and Carolyn ready the cottage for the winter, bringing in planters and storing the deck furniture in the shed.  Jerry had been suffering from some back/leg pain for most of the summer and was just working on getting a real diagnosis and plan for treatment.  He had decided that weekend to go ahead with surgery at a hospital in Green Bay to relieve his pain and hopefully restore some of the function he had lost in his leg as the condition wore on.  Nobody was thrilled at the prospect of him going through another major surgery, particularly a spinal surgery, but we all had great hope that it would finally allow him to go back to the quality of life he had lost over the summer when the pain and mobility problems started to impact his ability to do the things that he loved.  It was hard watching him struggle with his balance and the very ability to control his left leg but, as the kids like to say, he never complained.  Buck never complained. 

We had such a great time spending the weekend alone with Mark's parents, something we hadn't had the chance to do in years.  We left the cottage that Monday morning with a bit of a heavy heart because of the struggle we had witnessed that weekend and the knowledge that he faced surgery and possibly a long road of therapy before recovery.  But we left so glad that we had the chance to get up there alone and spend that time with them. 

Nobody knew it would be the last time we'd have with Jerry.  Just 6 days later, he was gone.

As painful as his loss was I know that I was comforted by the fact that we had spent that weekend with him and the fact that Mark, unlike most sons, could bury his father without any feelings of regret.  They had a great relationship until the very end and his last parting words to Mark as we left the cottage that Monday morning were, "See ya, buddy" as he gave him a hug goodbye.

I'm forever thankful that we made that random decision to get up there that particular weekend, something I chalk up to divine intervention.  My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures on my camera.  I'm left only with the pictures in my head from that weekend; memories and scenes that I'll never forget.