Letter to the Editor

LETTERS: RADER AND MUELLER ARE TWO OF THE BEST JUDGES

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To the editor:

If my next column appears later than usual, it may be because I've been too busy basking in reflected glory. Congratulations to the editors of The Best Years for recognizing two of the best, most beloved judges who ever graced our community and state. I could add immeasurably to the stated virtues of both retired judges, W.S. "Bill" Rader and Judge Marybelle Mueller. Perhaps to Judge Mueller's surprise, I'd heard much about her earlier from my lifelong friend, Dr. Henry L. Mueller. Henry was a Cape native who taught at the University of Illinois at Champaign for years, and on his infrequent visits to Cape Girardeau and Jackson, he never failed to extol the virtues of his cousin Paul Mueller's wife, Marybelle.

Through my longtime association with Missouri Court of Appeals Judge Stanley Grimm, I because acquainted with Judge Rader long before I became a sort-of extended branch of his family, and I soon learned he was incapable of telling a lie. Neither Judge Rader nor Judge Mueller could tell a lie while on the bench, but Judge Bill lied when he said that any time his wife, Birdie, tried to beg off from taking a trip with him, he told her he'd go alone.

Once, when Birdie had severely damaged a foot during an ice storm, she was scheduled to be in New Orleans a few days hence to accept a prestigious award from Century 21. Judge Bill swore that if she refused to budge he would pick up the first floozy he saw on the street and pass her off as Birdie, and guess what. The judge won this case too.

Everyone who has ever known Judge Bill Rader and Judge Marybelle Mueller remembers them with deep admiration and affection. To revise Chaucer, Gladly did they serve and teach, and willingly do they still.

AILEEN LORBERG

Cape Girardeau