5 ELVES OF INTEREST
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called Arctic Sun,” Mueller says. “I was one of the first people
to use it. It was real touch and go. I was gone and they were
able to jumpstart me. I was in a coma for several days.”
Mueller believes her years of dancing and working as a
fitness instructor probably saved her life. “I teach seven to ten
fitness classes a week,” she says of her only paying job. “I’ve
always been interested in fitness.”
Another of Mueller’s interests is the mental fitness of atrisk
children. She has mentored a half-dozen children for the
Take Stock in Children program through Indian River State
College, giving them guidance during their four years of high
school before they go on to college.
“Jeanette has been a fantastic mentor,” says Erin Cox,
program coordinator for Take Stock in Children. “She guides
the students and motivates them. She keeps them on track
and focused. We certainly appreciate her and she is an asset
to our program.”
“She has been there for me emotionally and financially,”
says IRSC student Nicole Durham. “She is my mentor. I am in
college and we talk all the time. She is always helping someone
else. I’m thankful that she’s in my life.”
“I like working with at-risk kids,” Mueller says, “someone
who really needs help. They need someone who can be a
consistent part of their lives, to be there and to listen to them.
These kids are for the most part not overachievers. They won’t
have the scholarship opportunities that other students do.
“It’s easy to sit with younger kids who are cute and who
are doing well. Working with kids who have issues and challenges
is a more interesting choice for my time.”
Since the day her heart stopped, Mueller down some, but she still puts in a full-and week out.
Elves
has slowed
time effort week in
“Juggling all of this coming off my health issues while I’m
still recovering is hard,” she says. “Family, my health and
volunteer organizations, I thrive on that. It’s hard not to work
at my full capacity, but I’m not complaining.”
And neither are the thousands of people on the Treasure
Coast who benefit each year from Mueller’s dedication to
her fellow man.
Name: Jeanette Mueller
Age: 58
Family: Husband, Larry; sons,
Beau, 27, and Kyle, 22; daughter,
Steffanie, 25.
Background: Graduate of Key
West High School. Father was a
U.S. Navy chief petty officer.
What most people don’t know about me: “Probably that I
do have a musical background. I sang in a girl’s barbershop
quartet that won many honors around the state.”
Favorite holiday memory: “Christmas with family and all
the preparation for the annual Christmas card photo. When
our daughter was 15 we gave her a cell phone, wrapped as a
present and placed under the tree. We then called the number
as she was opening presents and she realized the phone
was for her.”
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