Roger "Gene" Mueller, 77
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Roger "Gene" Mueller, 77, formerly from Randolph County, died February 3, 2009 in Loma Linda, CA.
The son of Henry and Selma (Furhop) Mueller, he was born March 15, 1931 in Steeleville, IL.
In 1960 he married Bessie Wolfe in Willisville, IL. (They are now divorced and she lives in Ventura County, CA.)
Gene graduated from Sparta High School in 1949 and received a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Southern Illinois University in 1955. His childhood was spent in small town Southern Illinois in the Depression era. His parents ran a boarding house for some time to bring money in and keep a roof over everyone's head. Father Henry worked in a shoe factory and acted as a volunteer firefighter. He passed away when Gene was in high school from health complications arising from being trapped in quicksand and fighting a house fire in below-freezing temperatures.
Gene spent some time after college working as a cartographer and historian. He moved from Illinois to Santa Monica, CA. Starting in 1963, Gene worked with Systems Development Corporation, which was formed by the Rand Corporation. His career centered around software development projects for the NORAD Space Defense Center as well as other defense projects over a 35-year span. During that time his job took him from Santa Monica, CA to Lexington, MA, then to Colorado Springs, CO, Parsipanny, NJ, Huntsville, AL, Knoxville, TN, King of Prussia, PA, Camarillo, CA, and Reston, VA. He also spent several months working in Montreal, Canada on a project there. Gene finally retired to the Hemet area in 1999.
In 1996 he suffered a heart attack while working in Virginia. That event led to a long journey within the ever-expanding boundaries of modern healthcare technology. He had a defibrillator device implanted in his chest that successfully maintained the pacing of his heart for over 10 years. He had both hips and a knee replaced. He also had a pin in his arm from a childhood fall, and a metal cage around some of his vertebrae because of a back fracture. Needless to say, going through a metal detector was not an easy task. Most of his recent care was with the Loma Linda University Medical Center, which was literally near and dear to his heart.
In his personal time, Gene enjoyed woodworking and built several pieces of furniture that are scattered across the country in the homes of various family members . And despite his medical problems and all the time he spent on the road during his career, he enjoyed getting into his car on a whim and driving cross-country to see his children or the wonderful sites this country has to offer. In his later years he enjoyed playing cards with his friends in Hemet, California and was proud of the fact that he had won $89 in nine years of play!
He will be missed.
Survivors include two daughters-Stacey Lynn Mueller (Edward Sleight, Jr.) of Cumming, GA, and Stephanie Marie Mueller of Aiea, HI; one son, Keith H. Mueller of Diamond Head, HI; and siblings-Rano Mueller of Peoria, IL and Daniel Mueller of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.