Muriel M Johns

Anyone who knew Muriel will remember her upright posture, her sweet and kindly social skills, and her sense of the importance of maintaining a firm hold on life until that was just no longer possible. When she was still in her 80s, she reconnected with her brother Howard’s family and from then until she passed, they enjoyed together developing and improving their relationship, connecting it with that family history that had begun back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Muriel’s father, Max Leo Seitz, was born in the United States, son in a large family ,the parents of which were first generation immigrants from Germany, quite possibly Bavaria. Her mother, Helen Pazdziora Seitz, was herself a first generation immigrant from Mucharz, Austria-Hungary, today in Wadowice County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. She left that home when a young woman, moving first to Germany and then sailing to the United States, arriving at Ellis Island in 1913. After signing on with the Harvey Girls, she travelled west by rail, eventually settling in Newton, KS, where she met and married Max. They had two children, Howard Max, born May 1, 1918, and Muriel Margaret, born September 14, 1920.

Muriel graduated from Bethel College in Newton with a degree in piano performance and then spent some years teaching piano in her hometown area. After moving to the Los Angeles area, she met and married rollicking Welshman, Thomas C. Johns, who was a railroad engineer and sometime musician. Both worked for the Santa Fe Railroad until their retirement, after which they moved to Roswell, NM and finally to Mesa in 1976, where Muriel continued after her husband’s death in 1996. They had no children.

Muriel passed of age-related causes and was ready in every way, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, to leave this physical life, since she had trusted Jesus Christ alone for her eternal welfare.

Muriel Johns is survived by three nieces, Lynn Seitz Wood of Divide, CO, Jeanice Seitz Conner of Flagstaff, AZ, and Shelley Seitz of Vacaville, CA, all daughters of Muriel’s brother Howard, deceased; by six grandnephews and two grandnieces; by 17 great grandnephews and great grandnieces; and four great great grandnieces. Mrs. Johns requested cremation. The family will celebrate her memory in love at a private family gathering.