MUSSER, Hope, (nee Frey) — passed away on July 31, 2019, peacefully at home at age 98, 12 years after her husband of 61 years, J. Alvin Musser, passed in 2007. Hope’s joy and pride was Alvin and their nine children and the constant love from her family that grew to 26 grandchildren, 48 great grandchildren and 3 great, great grandchildren. She was “Mama” to Richard A. Musser, Elizabeth A. Allerton, Marilyn V. Hanke, Marjorie M. Mikels, the late Gordon S. Musser, Grace L. Lehman, Michael E. Musser, Ruth Musser-Lopez, and Timothy R. Musser.
Hope was born in Abilene, Kansas, and graduated from Chapman H.S. She is predeceased by her parents, Lawrence and Grace Frey, and five siblings, Nobel Frey, Helen Eyster, Pauline Sider, James Frey, William (“Bill”) Frey and Alice Kroeker. She is survived by her sisters, Miriam Zook and Carolyn Wiley.
Hope was 19 when in 1940 she took the bus to Upland, California and left her family dairy-farm in Abilene where she was a milker. At first she stayed with her cousin Maynard Engle and his wife, Irene (Musser) Engle. There she met Alvin who was Irene’s brother, the herdsman and co-owner of Shady Grove Dairy. Her first employment position was caregiver and house keeper for a Claremont family, but Alvin soon talked her into serving in that same position for his three children Richard, Elizabeth and Marilyn. That situation changed when Alvin and Hope fell in love and married in 1946 on New Years in Las Vegas. The family grew to nine children who were raised amidst the groves and vineyards surrounding the dairy that was then on 7th Street and Grove Avenue in Upland.
Hope and Alvin were the generous benefactors of many charitable causes and Hope faithfully served as a Sunday School teacher and was in charge of the Kitchen Committee at the Upland Brethren in Christ Church for many years. She was Vineyard Elementary PTA Parent of the Year, and a Girl Scout Leader assisting in the Ontario-Montclair School District. In her later years, she owned her own apartment business and enjoyed world-wide travels with her husband to Australia and New Zealand, Alaska, Hawaii and Europe as well as local fishing trips in the Sierras with her family.
Visitation and viewing will be held at Stone Funeral Home 355 E. 9th Street, Upland, CA from 5-8 pm on Aug. 15, 2019. Interment and a brief service will be held at the North View Chapel located in the Bellevue Mausoleum (1240 W G St, Ontario, CA) on Aug. 16, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. followed by the “Celebration of Hope” at 3:00 p.m. at the Upland Brethren in Christ Church (845 W Arrow Hwy, Upland, CA). A reception will be held at the church’s Fellowship Hall beginning at 4:30 p.m. Family and friends are invited to attend and share stories.
Though Hope loved flowers, in lieu, the family suggests contributions to Pacific Lifeline Mission in Upland.
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