Catherine McCuen Muller

COLUMBIA - Catherine McCuen Muller, 99, died August 11, 2024. Born in Greenville, SC, she was the daughter of late Boyce and Jessie Garrison McCuen, one of eight children. Mrs. Muller is predeceased by husbands Donald Maurice Yancey, USAAF, KIA in WWII; George Frederick Muller of Blythewood; and Berryman Brent Breedin, US Navy Veteran of WWII.

Mrs. Muller was an accomplished pianist who came from a very musical family, and as a widow, playing the piano at the USO in Greenville, she met Fred Muller, a USAAF pilot and they married in 1948. She brought world class pianists and chorales to Blythewood and Columbia.

Mrs. Muller was creative in many ways. She loved to cook, sew and entertain; she canned thousands of jars of jellies and jams. Mrs. Muller was a graduate of the Chicago School of Interior Design and an interior decorator for 35 years. She was also resilient and athletic. At age three, she was run over by a T-Model truck while playing, but soon recovered. She found that exercise and swimming were good for her back injury and, weather permitting, swam a mile a day from her 40s into her 80s.

In Blythewood, Mrs. Muller was a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, where she served as organist for twelve years, and as president of the PTA and Garden Club. She and her husband, Fred, organized the Boy Scout Troop 346 and the Girl Scouts, where they served as leaders.

At Ebenezer Lutheran Church, she was president of the Patrons and Friends of the Arts. She was a member of the Social Survey Club, Current Literature Club, the Research and Study Club, president of the Columbia Garden Club as a Life Member, and the Garden Council.

Surviving are her brother Charles Garrison McCuen of Maryland; sons and daughter-in-law Boyce Lee Muller of Knoxville, Carl Frederick and Allison Gulick Muller of Greenville, Deborah Ferguson Muller of Columbia; daughters and sons-in-law Dr. Nancy Muller and Warren Mersereau of Boston, Virginia Muller and Dr. Timothy Daponte of Houston; grandchildren Daphne Elizabeth Muller, Lucy Muller, Philip Muller, Allidah Muller, Amelia Muller, Wiley Muller, Bryant Mersereau, Davis Mersereau, Matthew Daponte, George Daponte, and ten great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Muller is predeceased by siblings Margaret Daphne McCuen Robinson, Dr. William Garrison McCuen, Jeanne Frances McCuen Schick, Boyce Harold McCuen, Claude Holbert "Red" McCuen, and Mary Jane McCuen Ashmore.

Services for Mrs. Muller will be held August 24 at 2:00 PM, at Ebenezer Lutheran Church, with burial at St. Mark's Lutheran Church Cemetery, Blythewood, 3:30 PM. Visitation will be at Ebenezer at 1:00 PM. Rev. Joanna Gragg will officiate. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Patrons and Friends of the Arts, c/o Ebenezer Lutheran Church, 1301 Richland St, Columbia, 29201.

Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel is assisting the family. Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com