Camillus Mueller

Camillus (Steege) Mueller, age 94, of Milbank, SD, passed away peacefully on July 1, 2025, in Bloomington, MN.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday July 8, 2025, at St. Michael's Lutheran Church, 9201 Normandale Blvd., Bloomington, MN, 55437, with visitation at 10:00 a.m., and a light lunch to follow. Burial will be at Milbank Cemetery in Milbank, SD, on Wednesday July 9, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. with refreshments to follow at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Milbank. Memorials preferred to Emanuel Lutheran Church of Milbank, SD, https://www.elcmilbank.org/giving-financial or Lutheran Hour Ministries www.lhm.org.

The service will be live streamed, please use this link:https://smlcb.org/resources/watch-our-services-live/

Camillus Evelyn (Steege) Mueller was born on September 30, 1930, to William and Fannie (Basche) Steege at the family farm near Corona, SD. She was born into the difficult times of the great depression and lived without running water or electricity for her first ten years. Still, she often spoke fondly of her early years on the farm, playing in and by the river.

She attended a one-room schoolhouse without running water, and with a coal-fired stove. Her wonderful teacher Miss Jurgens taught her students embroidery, penmanship and music along with reading, writing and arithmetic.

She confirmed and lived her Christian faith with her confirmation verse, 2nd Peter 3:18, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen."

Her parents chose for her to attend boarding school at West Central School of Agriculture in Morris, MN. After moving to Milbank, SD, Camillus transferred to Milbank High School after one year in Morris. Her father and a young farmer, intending to take over the family farm, were to pick her up at her school in Morris. Enroute, her father and friend were killed instantly in a train-truck collision.

While in high school in Milbank, Camillus became a member of Emanuel Lutheran Church and there met Melvin Mueller. After graduating from high school with honors, she enrolled at Gregg Business School in Chicago. After only a few months, she returned to Milbank where she married Melvin on February 27, 1949. She spent the next fifty years on the Mueller farm, working hard alongside her husband and raising five children. She worked for years as church secretary at Emanuel Lutheran Church. When Melvin retired, they moved into Milbank where they spent twelve happy years together until Melvin passed away in 2011. Seven years later, Camillus moved to Friendship Village in Bloomington, MN, where she lived until her passing.

As her children became adults, married, and had children of their own, nothing gave her more pleasure than seeing them all together, enjoying each other’s company and retelling adventures (and mishaps) of early life on the farm.

Camillus was preceded in death by her parents; seven siblings; husband Melvin; and daughter Elizabeth Neal.

Camillus is survived by four children, Alan (Deborah) Mueller, Virginia (Rev. Donald) Johnson, Ruth (Michael) Flynn, and Nathan (Sandra) Mueller; nine grandchildren; nineteen great-grandchildren; and many family and friends.