Marlin Mardell Mueller, Sr.

of West Linn, Oregon, passed away April 1st, 2016 at West Hills Health and
Rehabilitation Center in Portland, Oregon. Marlin was born at the family home
in Carus, Oregon, the eighth child of Louis and Florence Mueller (nee
Kleinsmith) in late December 1931 or early January 1932. A birth date of
January 3, 1932 was eventually settled upon. Marlin shared the initials M.M.M.
with 9 siblings and a half-sister.
A member of a hardworking farming family, Marlin went to work at an early
age, providing labor that supported and improved the family farms. As a
young man, he worked in the woods above Molalla, Oregon and eventually
went on to his own farming enterprises. Enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in 1955,
he served at posts in the Southern U.S., Germany and New England. It was
while stationed near St. Johnsbury, Vermont that he met his future wife, Flora
Holt, and they were married in 1958. Five children followed over the next
twenty years: Sherri (1959) Marlin Jr. (1961) Cynthia (1962) Daniel (1970) and
Jennifer (1979).
After his discharge from the Air Force in 1961, Marlin returned to Oregon and
farming, eventually taking a job with Publisher's Paper (Later Smurfit
Newsprint Co.) in Oregon City, retiring from the mill's electrical department in
1986. After retirement he went back to farming the family land for the next
two decades. Marlin was mechanically adept, and a constant doer of things.
For years he enjoyed the Woodburn auction as a social event as much as a
sale. In early 2014 he was diagnosed with two types of cancer, and the worst
was expected; however, after receiving novel treatment coordinated by
OHSU, he continued living a normal life until recently.
Marlin is survived by his wife, five children, nine grandchildren, and many
great grandchildren. Further survivors include a brother and three sisters
living in Oregon and Washington. In accordance with his wishes, no service
will be held. Marlin's ashes will be scattered in his woods on the family farm,
so he may return to the land that wrought and sustained him, and all of the
generations before him.