Marie Edna Lillian Austin

Our beloved mother closed her beautiful eyes for the last time on December 4, 2010. Marie Edna Lillian Muether was born on May 12, 1916 in Sumner, Iowa. She was the third daughter and fifth child of George and Anna Muether, and grew up on the family farm in Iowa. After graduating high school, Marie moved to Chicago, Illinois where she worked at the 1932 World’s Fair with her sister, Sylvia. The two young women also waited tables at Concordia Teacher’s College (now Concordia University) and went to beautician school. As receptionist to United Airlines President William Patterson, she met and married Edward Eugene Austin, a United Airlines engineer. They moved to the California west coast, where Ed worked for the Moseley Company, a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard. Marie loved children and animals, and had several of each. She enjoyed cooking, reading, sewing, crocheting, and ceramics. She traveled both abroad and domestically, periodically visiting her Iowa relatives. Upon retirement, Marie & Ed moved to Grants Pass, Oregon, where they lived until Ed’s death in 1995. Marie returned to southern California, living in West Covina. In addition to her husband, Marie was preceded in death by one son and two granddaughters, as well as her five brothers and two sisters. She is survived by her son, four daughters, and four grandchildren.