Mona M. Preuss

Mona Preuss died peacefully on December 27 after a life of adventurous travels at home and abroad. Born in Gatesville, Texas, to John and Margaret Clark McDonald, she grew up in San Antonio, graduated from Jefferson High School, and majored in mathematics at the University of Texas, Austin. In 1941 she married Army Air Corps Lieutenant and West Point graduate Paul T. Preuss, a flight instructor at Kelly Field. Mona's WWII began with starting a family amid constant moves. With Paul posted overseas, she joined her sister Margaret Kieffer to raise their toddlers in San Antonio. War's end reunited the family in the Washington area. In 1952 they moved to New Mexico, where her husband's job testing atomic weapons led to one of Mona's most somber experiences, when he arranged for a group of military wives to witness an A-bomb test in Nevada. In 1958 the family, including three sons, transferred to Hawaii aboard the liner Matsonia. Now-General Preuss was assigned command of Hickam Air Force Base, but Mona's assignment was even more challenging, organizing social affairs for officers' wives from rival military commands. Learning to sail eased the stress, along with celebrating Hawaii's statehood in 1959. Mona was soon directing housemoving again, back to the D.C. area, on to Boston, then to Colorado Springs and, upon Paul's retirement, to New Jersey. Here Mona suffered her life's greatest loss, the death of her middle son Kurt at age 25, the long-delayed result of a congenital heart defect. Mona and Paul's final move was to San Antonio, where she pursued gardening and enjoyed travels with her husband, including tours of Europe. Their venturesome life together ended when Paul died in 1987. In following years Mona journeyed with close friends as far afield as Greek ruins and China's Great Wall. Visits with her sons' families could be equally daring. After running the rapids of Oregon's Rogue River, she wanted more and bigger rapids. She loved the roller coasters at Disneyland and was eager to dare sheer cliffs to watch sea creatures along the Pacific Coast, cross the rickety Capilano Suspension Bridge near Vancouver, B.C., and navigate steep paths to view Yellowstone Falls. Nature's beauty -- mute swans afloat in a Yellowstone snowfall, whooping cranes on the Texas Gulf Coast -- enchanted her. Limited mobility marked Mona's final years, yet her friends at the Forum at Lincoln Heights retirement community and at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, where she was a longtime parishioner, remember her grace and determination to remain independent. She was quietly generous to institutions and deserving individuals. Her family and friends and the caregivers who helped her cope with adversity remember her with love. Predeceased by sister Margaret Kieffer and brother John McDonald, Mona is survived by son Paul F. Preuss, his wife Debra Turner, and daughter Mona Helen Renney and her four children, and son Mark Preuss, his wife Mary Fienup Preuss, their son Kurt and his wife Celine, and daughter Laura. Mona will be privately buried with husband Paul and son Kurt at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Memorial services will be held at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, 308 Mount Calvary Drive, Saturday, February 10, at 11 a.m. The family requests donations to Mount Calvary Lutheran in lieu of flowers.