Doris Jean (Means) Mueller

Doris Jean (Means) Mueller was born in Bedford, Pennsylvania to Ivan Blair Means (1907-1988) and Virginia (Weimer) Means (1907-1964) on July 22, 1930. She grew up on a farm in Black Valley in Everett, Pennsylvania. She had an older brother Bryce - 2 years older - and 4 younger sisters, Lois, Ruth, Gail and Joyce. She also had a brother, Blair, who died as an infant before she was born.

Her father had registered Holstein dairy cows and also raised pigs and chickens. They also had horses for doing farm work. They had no refrigeration except an ice house for the milk and no running water or heat. Their home had no indoor plumbing, no washing machine, no clothes dryer, no phone, no television or electricity. The only phone was a “party line” that was in her grandfather’s house which was about a mile away. Her father did have a generator that would provide some light and access to radio. They had a wood stove for cooking and another wood stove for heating, a pump house for water, and an outhouse for their bathroom. They grew their own vegetables and ate mostly pork and chicken - occasionally beef. Her father hunted and they also ate venison, squirrel, rabbit and wild turkey. Doris also said that she had eaten groundhog and raccoon as well.

Life was busy on the farm with many chores such as taking care of the animals and growing vegetables in the garden. Since she had trouble milking the cows, Doris had “kitchen duty” and watched her younger sisters while her mother helped her father and brother. While she was growing up, her father did not have a tractor and relied on the horses for plowing and hauling with a wagon. In the winter they had a sleigh. If her father had to go to the town to get something they couldn’t grow on the farm, like flour and sugar, he would borrow his father’s car to travel the 8 miles into Everett.

Doris and her siblings played hide and seek, tag, and played ball in their free time. She and her sister Lois also got moss from the woods and made moss houses while watching the cows. Their family went to the Black Valley Church which was within walking distance of their house. Her father’s parents, John and Elizabeth Means, lived on a farm which was about a mile away with her father’s siblings, Gladys and John. There were many family gatherings like birthdays and picnics. They also went once a year to the Bedford County Fair. Her father was the catcher and coach/manager of a local baseball team and she grew up loving baseball.

She and her siblings went barefoot all summer and would get new shoes at the end of summer for school. Doris and her sisters wore hand me down clothes and dresses made from feed sacks. She attended the Pine Grove one room school house for grades 1-8, and had to walk to school through the woods and over the hill. In the winter, her father would take her and her brother and sister, Lois, to school on horseback. At the one room school house she studied Math (her favorite subject), History, English, Spelling and had daily Bible Reading and prayer.

One time while in her teens, Doris went to the pump house and got water to wash the dishes. After heating it on the wood stove, the hot water spilled on her legs when she poured it into the washing basin and severely burned them.

After finishing 8th grade at Pine Grove, she went by bus to Everett where she graduated from Everett High School in 1948. In addition to the History, Grammar, Composition, Science, and Math classes, she took Latin and had the desire to be a nurse when she graduated.

She only went to nursing school in the fall of 1948. Her father’s brother and his wife had moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and had one young daughter. They were expecting another child, and Doris moved in early 1949 to help her aunt and uncle at their home in Pikesville, Maryland. After helping her aunt and uncle, she got a job as a ditto machine operator at Commercial Credit in Baltimore where she met the love of her life, Robert “Bob” Holmes Mueller. He had just returned from being overseas after WWII where he had served in the occupation services in Germany. He was temporarily working at Commercial Credit before going back to work at Glen L. Martin where he had worked before going into the service.

Their first date in late 1949 was a dancing class that she and her coworker, Louise, had decided to take. Bob was their means of communication during work hours since they worked in different areas and couldn’t see each other at their desks. Since Bob could see both of them from his desk, they would signal Bob when one of them went to the restroom and he would let the other know so they could meet and chat. Bob started giving Doris rides home from work since he lived near Pikesville.

While dating, Doris started to go with Bob to his church, Arlington Baptist Church, which met at that time across from Pimlico Race Track in the Pastor’s home. It was there that she heard the gospel and realized she was a sinner in need of a Savior, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for her sins. They got engaged, and she was going to meet her future mother-in-law, but Bob’s mother was sick and did not want to meet Doris until she felt better. Unfortunately, Doris never met Bob’s mother because his mom died in February of 1950. Bob and Doris got married on June 17, 1950, and went to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon.

Soon after their return from their honeymoon, Doris found out that they were going to have a baby. She was very sick and lost a lot of weight. Their baby was due in April of 1951, and she had just gotten over being sick and had gotten her first maternity clothes at Christmas. They went to Church on Sunday night, January 14th, came home and went to bed. The bed slats fell out and Doris helped Bob put the bed back together. She ended up going to Mercy Hospital where their daughter, Roberta Irene was born early in the morning on January 15. 1951. Roberta was three months premature and only weighed 3 pounds 11 ounces. The doctors told Doris that if she had given birth to a boy, that he wouldn’t survive. Since she had a girl, there was a 50-50 chance of survival. Doris didn’t get to see or hold her daughter until Roberta was a week old. When Doris left the hospital, Roberta was in an incubator and didn’t get released from the hospital until she weighed 5 pounds. Doris got to bring her home in late February when Roberta was a month old.

While they wanted more children, God only gave them Roberta. They lived with Bob’s father, Charles Herbert Mueller, who had diabetes and Doris would give him his insulin shots. Her father-in-law taught her to drive and she would take him to his job and pick him up after work. They all moved from Baltimore to Lutherville, Maryland in 1956. Doris took care of her father-in-law until he passed away in 1957. Doris and Bob took in foster children, and their home welcomed visitors and family. She took care of a neighbor’s children while their mother was in the hospital and their father had to work. When each of her sisters graduated from high school, they came to live with Bob and Doris and find jobs.

In 1964, when Roberta was 13, Doris learned that Bob had cancer - Hodgkins Disease - and was not expected to live more than 3 months. Doris decided she needed to get a job where she could be home with her daughter when she came home from school. She got a job with the Baltimore County School Cafeteria. The Lord blessed her husband with 3 and 1/2 more years and Doris took care of him at home for the last 3 months of his life before he died on August 26, 1967. They only had 17 years of marriage.

Doris continued working at the Baltimore County School Cafeteria program and worked her way up to being a Cafeteria Manager. She retired from work in 1992 after serving for 28 years in the food service department of Baltimore County Public Schools. She worked at Hampton Elementary, Lutherville Elementary, Timonium Elementary, and was Cafeteria Manager at Old Court Middle School, Dulaney Senior High School, and Towson Senior High School. She remained close with her work friends from Dulaney and Towson High School throughout the rest of her life.

Her daughter, Roberta, lived with her mom while going to Towson State Teachers College (now Towson University) and graduated from college in 1972. Roberta met her husband, Michael (Mike) Alan Britton in the fall of 1972 while he was pastoring a small church near Westminster, Maryland. Mike and Roberta got married on June 30, 1973. After her grandchildren were born - Elizabeth (Beth) Jean (born June 1975), and Paul Robert (born June 1977), -Doris sold her home where they all were living. She and her daughter’s family moved together in the fall of 1978 to 1 Covert Court in Lutherville before the arrival of her grandson Michael Alan Jr. who was born in December that year. Doris lived there till she passed away in 2023.

She was a faithful attendee of Arlington Baptist Church for many years before attending Towson Bible Church where her son-in-law, Mike Britton, was the pastor. To know Doris was to know her spunk, smile, and faithful care. She truly enjoyed helping Mike and Roberta raise their three children and devoted her life to this sacrificial calling. Her grandchildren brought her such joy and purpose. While her son-in-law and daughter worked at landscaping and cutting lawns to pay for their children to go to Christian School, she helped take care of her grandchildren at home after school. She cooked the meals and did the laundry and helped them with their homework. She went to their sports games and school functions, and later after they graduated from High School, she also drove them to college in the fall and went to pick them up and bring them home in the spring.

In more recent years, it was her 12 great-grandchildren, who affectionately called her “Gran Gran”, that made her light up most. She would travel to visit them and read stories to them, help them with their home-school classes, and play games, color pictures, and play ball with them. She loved traveling and driving in her car which she was able to do until she fell in 2020 when she was 89 years old.

Since the passing of her son-in-law, Mike, in January of 2022, Doris and Roberta have shared their home and life with new friends from Pilgrim Presbyterian Bible Church in Kingsville, Maryland and the Bible Fellowship Church of Reisterstown, Maryland. Doris continued to enjoy her family and the faithful, long-lasting friendships developed through Towson Bible Church and her grandkids' school days and with all those who lovingly called her “grandmom”. Doris was energized by visits from these family and friends who would stop by to catch up, play a game of Scrabble, or help her with her daily crossword or word search.

Doris passed into the arms of her Savior, peacefully in the evening of October 17, 2023 at the age of 93. She is preceded in death by her husband, Bob, and her siblings, Bryce Means, Lois Hoagland, and Ruth Borror, as well as her son-in-law, Mike Britton. She is survived by her daughter, Roberta (Mueller) Britton; her three grandchildren and their spouses, Beth and Frank Johnson, Paul and Kate Britton, and Michael and Lauren Britton; and 12 great-grandchildren - Bruce Johnson, Ryan Johnson, Jacob Johnson, Will Britton, Anna Britton, Wesley Johnson, Lily Britton, Gabriel Britton, Emma Kate Britton, Michael Alexander Britton, Julia Britton, and Lydia Britton; and her two sisters - Gail Badaracco and Joyce Pepple.

Her grandson, Paul Britton summed up her life at her celebration of life service on November 20, 2023 this way -

“It is hard for us to think about the magnitude and impact if 93 years of relationships . . . .

We hope this afternoon brings back sweet, sweet memories of Doris Jean Mueller and testifies of the power of God’s faithfulness throughout the life of one lovely lady from a farm in Bedford County, PA.

It is not accomplishments, medals, possessions, or fame that makes a life worth celebrating . . . it’s the relationships. It’s the way that a person leaves a lasting imprint of themselves on the hearts of those around them. How many lives did Grandma touch in her 93 years? Innumerable.

All of us here, and so many more, are forever changed by WHO SHE WAS - a gritty, fun, dedicated daughter/sister/wife/mother/coworker/ friend/grandma/“grandma”/great grandma.

We have been changed by WHAT SHE DID - cared, led, supported, connected, prayed and loved

Our lives have forever changed by WHY SHE LOVED. It was because of Jesus.

She wasn’t showy or pompous about her faith. But it was undeniable. She had a cool, steady confidence in a God who created the universe AND saved her soul. Christ was her firm foundation - behind the scenes - in the good times - through the hard times. And it was the life and sacrifice of Jesus that overflowed into the love and sacrifice we saw in her.”

She lived a “life that was full of God’s amazing grace, a Heavenly Father’s great faithfulness, and the goodness of a powerful and living God. It was Christ in Grandma that we celebrate!”