Irma Jean Drumheller Muehleck

Irma Jean Drumheller Muehleck: August 18, 1926 – November 16, 2025

ST. HELENS- Jean D. Muehleck was born in 1926 in rural West Virginia where she spent her early carefree years fishing for “crawdads” in the nearby crick, chasing bumblebees through flower-covered meadows, and climbing to the roof top to see the world beyond the “holler” where she lived in a gracious multi-generational family home with her parents and brothers. During this time, she also learned from her parents the value of hard work and resilience imbued with West Virginian sentiment. Upon graduation from St. Albans High School, Jean worked at the local Kroger’s grocery store for a brief time and later for a branch of General Motors. A family friend, Lucy Pauley, thought Jean’s talents were underappreciated, so encouraged her to seek a career in nursing. This led to her admission to the nursing program associated with Kanawha Valley Hospital (near Charleston, WV). Upon completion, she earned the second highest score on the state-wide nursing registry exam. It was here she met her future husband, George Ernest Muehleck, Jr, a New Yorker who was serving as a resident physician following his WWII service in Italy. They married June 7, 1950. Immediately following the ceremony, she and George boarded a Hudson and embarked to Portland, Oregon, where they began the marvelous adventure of their lives together.
St. Helens became her home in 1953 where Jean focused on raising a family. She instinctively provided a supportive, loving home environment for her four sons, where by example, she fostered kindness, sensitivity and integrity. As the family added third and fourth generations, her exceptionally caring, encouraging and non-judgmental attention to each family member elevated her to a matriarchal role. As such, she is beloved by all within her family.
Jean additionally cultivated relationships with those within her community. She hosted and attended countless gatherings of friends around both dinner and bridge tables for decades. She enjoyed competitive bridge (Yes, she had a competitive spirit!) until failing eyesight forced her to retire at age 97. Jean was also an avid fly fisher. She took great pleasure in watching a large trout rise to her fly and immensely enjoyed the tug-of-war that followed. Only darkness could convince her to retreat from a river’s bank. Her favorite streams were the Metolius and Deschutes Rivers. It would be an omission not to mention Jean and George’s love of travel and culture took them to many far-reaching corners of the world. Through it all, she earned a BA degree, English, from Portland State University in 1978.
Lately, Jean was fond of reciting an autobiographical poem entitled “Reminiscences” authored by her maternal grandmother which closely echoed her own life:
“It’s been long, long years ago since I, a carefree child, went roaming through the woodland lot gathering flowers wild. It’s been long years, yet I can see the spring beneath the hill, where I would race me down the path with my little pail to fill. It’s been so long since those carefree days I had no care I had no sin, my home a pleasant place to me where peace and love reigned within. It seems so long, so long ago since childhood’s happy days, with Father there, with Mother there, guarding all my ways. It is done; won’t be long ‘till I will bid adieu, to the changing scenes of earth, with eternity in view.”
After a long, happy, fulfilling life, Jean entered eternity November 16, 2025.
She is survived by: Stephen Drumheller Muehleck (Laura Pihlaja Muehleck) and their children Christina Jean Muehleck Wong and Fairley Stoltzer Muehleck; Donna Ross Muehleck and her children Samuel Drumheller Muehleck and Daniel John Muehleck; Charles Alexis Muehleck and his children Andrew Charles Muehleck and Jonathan Patrick Muehleck; and Henry Zeno Muehleck (Jeanette Flynn Muehleck) and their children Anne Victoria Muehleck and Amy Elizabeth Muehleck. Jean is additionally blessed with fifteen great grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband, George Ernest Muehleck, Jr; her son, John Fairley Muehleck; her daughter-in law, Pam Netherda Muehleck; her parents, Eunice Medley Drumheller and Ella Dora Armstrong Drumheller; and her five brothers.
She will rest within the Willamette National Cemetery alongside her husband. There will be no public services. Those wishing to honor the memory of Jean may do so through a donation to The Jean D. Muehleck Endowment, Maryhill Museum of Art, 35 Maryhill Museum Dr, Goldendale, WA 98620.