Tabea M. Mueller

Tabea Mueller, 106, Bismarck, formerly of Steele, Servant to the Lord, entered into her heavenly home on April 17, 2026 leaving behind a legacy of faith, hard work, advocacy and devotion to her family.

A funeral service will be held at 2 PM on Friday, April 24, at Inspire Family Fellowship, 523 N 21st St, Bismarck, ND.

Visitation will be held from 5-7 PM on Thursday, April 23, at Bismarck Funeral Home, 3723 Lockport St, Bismarck. A prayer service will begin at 7 PM. Visitation will continue at the church one hour prior to the service.

Tabea was born January 5, 1920 on the family farm South of Tappen to Fred and Margaretha (Mittleider) Martin, the tenth of seventeen children. Tabea attended school in Valley Township until the eighth grade.

Tabea married Levi Patzner on September 5, 1940. They made their home Northeast of Robinson in Wallace Township. Tabea, already coming from a farm family, knew the hard work associated with the farm. The equipment they used was far from the big four-wheel drive tractors now. They had four wheels, but the drive came from the person running it!

Levi and Tabea had five children: Josephine, Genevieve, Levi Jr., Jim and Mary Ann. Levi Sr. passed away in February 1963, Josephine died in an automobile accident September 1967, Jim, who served in the US Army in Vietnam, died of Agent Orange in July, 1998, and Genevieve, after a courageous battle of cancer, died in September 2022.

Tabea married Reiny Mueller in 1964 and moved to Steele. Later they started Reiny’s Auto Wrecking in 1965. This was a different lifestyle to get used to.

Reiny and Tabea sold the Auto Wrecking business in 1983, and moved to Dawson to semi-retire. They enjoyed camping and especially fishing along with Tabea doing vegetable and flower gardening, canning and keeping up the big yard. They were active members of the Dawson Senior Citizens.

Reiny and Tabea took some vacations with Reiny’s daughter, Violet & Marvin Bodvig.

Reiny died in May 1990. Tabea continued to live in Dawson doing the gardening and keeping busy, even finding time to fish, but it wasn’t the same.

In 2000, Tabea sold her home in Dawson, moved to Steele and lived with her daughter, Mary Ann Binder. She enjoyed a competitive game of pinochle, Rummikub, flower gardening, quilting, canning, baking pies, apple turnovers, blachinda (meat & potatoes and pumpkin), other baked goods and cooking.

Tabea travelled with Levi Jr and Dianna to Florida to see her daughter, Jean.

In the Summer of 2012, after an unfortune incident (playing softball with her great-grandchildren) she became a resident of the Golden Manor in Steele, ND. In January 2025, she was moved to Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center in Bismarck and resided there until the time of her death.

Tabea enjoyed Golden Age, Senior Citizens and Birthday Club. She was on the Senior Council and volunteered at Medcenter One in Mandan. She continued to grow flowers in season, do some crafts and seemed to be busy most of the time.

She is survived by her daughter, Mary Ann Binder of Steele; son and daughter-in-law, Levi (Dianna) Patzner of Bismarck; son-in-law, Pat Rafferty of Woodworth, eleven grandchildren: twenty-six great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren with two more on the way; and many nieces and nephews.

Tabea was received into heaven with open arms by her parents, Fred and Margaretha; husbands, Levi Patzner and Reiny Mueller; daughters, Josephine Rafferty and Genevieve Patzner; and son, James Patzner. She was the last survivor of 17 children: Sisters: Mary (Philip) Wall, Caroline (Gustov) Geist, Lydia Martin (stillborn), Emma (Gottlieb) (Sam) Morlock, Lydia (Theodore) Morlock, Leah (Albert) Guthmiller, Esther (Lawrence) Guthmiller, Verna (Harold) Guthmiller and Norma (Leroy) Miller. Brothers: Fred Jr (Anna), Ludvig, John (Martha), Walter (Frieda), David (Alvina), Israel (Erna) and Tilmon Martin.