Renata Mustoe

Der HERR ist mein Hirte, mir wird nichts mangeln. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psalms 23:1 Lutherbibel

Renate Aneliese Mustoe, long time resident of the Wenatchee Valley,
graduated, as she would like to have it put, Tuesday, 9 May 2000. She
was born Renate Mueller to William and Maria (Kriszat) Mueller, a
farming family in Tilsit, East Prussia, 16 June 1931. At the beginning
of World War II she was forced to leave their family farm near the Memel
river and begin a 500 mile trek on foot to the Western Zone of Germany.
As a young girl her family, her brother (Manfred), her mother, and
grandmother (Anna Kriszat), endured incredible hardships. Since they
were considered displaced German people in the midst of the chaotic
disintegration of Europe, few people around them could be trusted. They
traveled by night and hid in the fields and bombed out buildings by
day. "Knowing things" was dangerous in those days and thus it was not
until she was 20 years old that she finally learned of the death of her
father, a political prisoner of the German regime at the Austrian
concentration camp of Mauthausen in 1941. Renate learned at an early
age that survival meant never quitting and not giving up faith and
hope. Finally, after months of walking, with shoes on her feet she had
made from straw, the family covered in lice, arrived in the Western Zone
of Berlin, Christmas, 1945. There, in the American Red Cross camp they
rejoiced over a Christmas treat of a slice of white bread.

After the war the family was reestablished for a time in West Germany.
During this time she met Myles Mustoe (East Wenatchee) a U.S. Army
sergeant in the West German town of Kaiserslautern. Finally, in 1952,
after working in the Westphalia region of Germany, Renate and her dear
brother Manfred traveled aboard the liner Queen Elizabeth to Ellis
Island and the United States. In 1953 she married the army sergeant in
Seattle and would remain his wife for nearly 47 years.

Renate was deeply committed to her faith. She was very active with her
church (The New Life Church of God) and the support of missions. She
called herself an American German and was not afraid to share the
experiences of the sacrifice she endured to gain her freedom and the
faith she gained through those experiences. She freely gave of her time
to speak to school classes and young peoples groups of her war time
experiences. She was an advocate for peace in this world and she
rejoiced when the Berlin Wall was finally destroyed. Renate was a woman
who truly understood the meaning of "So ist das Leben--hart aber dafür
gemein" life is hard and mean, however to all those who knew her,
Renate was a woman of unending hope, perseverance, forgiveness and
always one who would offer a cup of tea or coffee and a little coffee
cake or pie to go along with it. And upon your leaving her precious
hospitality she would always say "see you later!" She knew tears and
laughter and she was always there to listen. Renate is well known as a
friendly, smiling, energetic person, who trusted her neighbors and gave
of her heart to those in need. Most of all she cared deeply for the
people who called her 'Honey'.....her family, her children, and her
grandchildren. She loved her family, she prayed and lived for her
family. Renate knew God's life and his care for life, and she expressed
this daily in her walk of faith. She loved the valley and the
mountains, the mornings and the sunsets over the orchard where she lived
north of East Wenatchee.

The smiling sound of her broken English accent will be missed in this
life. However, goodness and mercy has followed her and the essence of
the life she has left in those she touched with her words, her heart,
her actions, and her faith, will live on as she now does. See you later
Honey! Happy graduation!