Eileen Frances Muelken, age 94 of Prior Lake, was greeted by her Lord and Savior on October 6, 2022. A private family service was held at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Savage with Father Ben Little presiding. Eileen was laid to rest at Credit River Cemetery.
Apprehensive that an approaching blizzard would prevent the local doctor from delivering their second child, Nina Schwarzbauer traveled alone by train to his clinic in Isle, Minnesota where she gave birth to her daughter, Eileen Frances, on December 20, 1927. Several days later they traveled home to McGrath in a horse-drawn sleigh, hand-stitched quilts keeping them warm. Born two days before the winter solstice, Eileen honored her name’s Gaelic origin: bright, shining one.
Eileen grew up on the family farm surrounded by her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. A child of the Depression, she never felt impoverished and recounted the beauty of sun glinting through Ball Mason jars brimming with garden vegetables that she helped can. She fed the chickens, collected eggs, mothered and minded her younger brothers, and played in the woods, fashioning play clothes from birch bark. Eileen eagerly looked forward to Fourth of July holidays spent at Mille Lacs Lake, the excitement of threshing season, and Christmas candles lit on freshly harvested Balsam trees.
Valedictorian of her high school class, Eileen graduated from the College of St. Benedict in 1950 after earning a degree in dietetics. She completed an internship in Detroit and worked in Rochester before moving to Minneapolis where she worked for several years as the lead dietician at Mount Sinai Hospital. She left Mount Sinai in the early 1960s and devoted her life to raising her adored daughters.
Eileen met her husband, Frank, at a Catholic mixer in Minneapolis and they were married in June 1957, following his military service. They built a home on Hanrehan Lake, where she remained active and independent. A few days ago she was mowing the lawn, tending her flowers, and preparing to rake leaves. She appreciated her front-row seat to nature’s whims and was entertained by the resident eagles, swans, and beavers. Moonrises, rainbows, and diamonds dancing on the lake evoked joy. Always a Minnesota farm girl, she knew the weather forecast wherever her loved ones lived, often before they did.
Accomplished in the kitchen, though a “country cook” by her description, Eileen’s Thanksgiving stuffing, potato salad, caramel rolls (her mother’s recipe), and German chocolate cake were legendary. While not especially fond of chocolate, she baked several German Chocolate cakes per year, dozens throughout her life, honoring her family’s birthday wishes.
Whether responding to Mom, Mama, the occasional Motherrrr, Grandma, Great Grandma, Mar-Mar, Miggi, or WeeWeeWee, Eileen delighted in her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She instilled a generational love for reading and never tired of re-reading favorites such as Are You My Mother? She played countless rounds of Crazy Eights, Cat’s Cradle, and Button, Button who has the Button? — always with enthusiasm. No day was complete without a call from granddaughter Katie and a prayer for each, near or far.
Eileen exuded tenderness. Her reassuring touch delighted generations of children with Katzen , a German rhyme from her childhood that ended with a gentle tickle. She stroked heads and soothed sorrows. Her faith was quiet, strong, unwavering. She exemplified grace and forgiveness. She loved wholly.
Her soothing hands have stilled. Our hearts are shattered.
Eileen is survived by her daughters, Mary (Marvin Schulte) van Muelken, Elizabeth (Wes) Davidson, Joan (Rob) Hosking; grandchildren, Michael Schulte van Muelken (Sun Hoe Kim), Mathew Schulte van Muelken, Alexandra (Stephen) Braunlich, Brianna Theis, Katie (Bryan) Tauer, Elena (Max) Mayrhofer, Anna (Jeremiah) Watson; great-grandchildren, John and Hannah Braunlich, Mia Tauer, and Edward van Muelken; brothers, Michael Schwartzbauer, Jerry (Colleen) Schwarzbauer; sisters-in-law, Eileen A. Muelken and Linda Muelken; and many nieces and nephews. She shared many memorable moments with her dear friends and neighbors Margaret Burke and Judy Bowe. Eileen was preceded in death by Frank Muelken, her parents, Mike and Nina Schwarzbauer, her brother, Roger and sister, Phyllis.
