Desert Vista Family Album
Happy Birthday Muriel!
After several months of
planning by Jeannette and
Sandy, we celebrated
Muriel's birthday with a
surprise party on
September 3, 2006.  
Attended by family and
friends, the party was a
complete surprise to
Muriel as she celebrated
her 60th birthday.  
Muriel holds a
floral birthday cake
sent by friends
Lonnie and Gary
Bowling who live in
Tulsa Oklahoma.
Jeannette and Sandy sent invitations to just about everyone.
Here are some of the
wonderful gifts she
received from family
and friends.  She
especially
appreciated the many
cards and letters sent
by those to far away
to attend in person.

This is Birthday greetings and wishes for my beloved wife Muriel.

As you make the trip down the road of life, it’s time to stop for a while and celebrate a milestone in your
life.  So pull of the road and into the rest stop so your friends and family can wish you, along with me,
Happy 60th Birthday Muriel.  

Now, most of us have heard the stories of life being all downhill after we reach the terrible age of 50.  If
that’s the case, where do we go at age 60?  Do we drive off of a steep cliff or something like that?   Well,
I’m here to tell you from personal experience that is not the case.  In fact I believe it is just the opposite.  
I’m sure you will agree as friends and family gather here with you to celebrate your birthday and wish
you the best for the coming years, that this is a truly memorable day.  The best part of this day is the
realization that there will be many more just like this one for you to experience as you continue down life’s
road.

While you are resting at the roadside and enjoying this day, let’s take just a short detour down memory
lane and review some of the memorable events in the your past.   On September 3, 1946 Mr. and Mrs.
James Branstetter welcomed a new daughter, Muriel Ruth, into the world.  Muriel would later be joined
in the Branstetter Family by two sisters, Jeannette and Nancy and a brother, Jimmie.  Muriel began
school in Redding California and later graduated from Shasta Union High School.  She decided to
continue her education by attending college.   She graduated from Shasta Community College with an
Associate of Arts degree.  For two years during summer breaks, she left her home and family and
traveled to Wyoming and to Yellow Stone National Park where she spent her summers working.  These
summer jobs gave her not only work experience but the confidence to leave her home and family in Redding
and Move to Springfield, Missouri and join her sister Jeannette who had moved there earlier.

This began a new era in Muriel’s life.  She quickly found work at a company called Empire Automotive
Distributors and began her work there on June 2, 1969.  Her work ethic and abilities completely won over
her new boss, Jim Millsap.  Jim had plans for his new employee and little did she know that she would
send the next 33 years with the same company, moving from inventory control to Purchasing agent to
office manager and more.  

One year later, I began work for Jim as General Manager of the wholesale stores which at that time were
called Hermann Brownlow Companies.  Most of my time was spent at a store location across the street
from the warehouse where she worked.  Much of my work required her help and we soon became good
friends.  We had many lunches together discussing business in general.  One of the things I enjoyed most
was when our discussions turned to family and friends.  Muriel would tell stories of her growing up as
part of a family of six.  Being an only child I was awed be her stories of growing up with two sisters and
a brother.  

Then came and event that changed both of our lives.  Jim was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  You would
have had to know him personally to know how well he managed this challenge.  Being the astute business
man, he immediately began to make plans for the company after his passing.  He sold the company to a
well know automotive group, the Crow Burlingame Company in Little Rock Arkansas, and it was also a
family run business.  He made specific arrangements with the new owners that his current employees
were to be protected in their jobs for the duration.  Jim failed fast and soon retired to his home for his
last days.  As his body deteriorated, he refused to see anyone in person.  But he kept in contact by using
the phone.  I had conversations with him at home on a regular basis for quite some time.  

It was my last conversation before Jim died that he asked me to be witness to the plans he had made for
his employees.  In this conversation, he asked me to especially watch out for and take care of his special
girl, Muriel.    I didn’t realize at the time but that conversation was a turning point in my life.  My
charge as Muriel’s protector changed my feelings from platonic to romantic in a short period of time.  
Long story short, in April 1973 Muriel and I left work among the waves and well wishes of fellow
employees and traveled to Muskogee, Oklahoma where we met Muriel’s sister Jeannette and friend
Lonnie Bowling a former co-worker of Muriel’s.  The two of them had made all the arrangements for our
wedding and we were married on April 21st.

It was several years later that Muriel gave birth to our daughter, Jennifer Anne on May 24 1979.  
Jennifer cemented the already firm relationship that we had and was a wonderful blessing for the two of
us.  Jennifer has now grown up and is married to Kevin Myers and they have presented us with two
wonderful grandchildren, Zoe and Kyle.  The Myers family has moved to Watertown, New York where
Kevin as a member of the U.S. Army and is stationed at Fort Drum.  Just this last week, Kevin left
Fort Drum and is now deployed in Afghanistan.

There have been dark days in Muriel’s life also.  The passing of her mother and later the death of her
father after lingering illnesses were low points in her trip down life’s road.  

It was in early 2001 that we received an invitation to the wedding of Jeannette’s son Brian who was to be
married to Sandy Giltner in Twin Falls, Idaho.  Muriel and I decided that this would be a great
opportunity to visit Jeannette while attending Brian’s wedding.  So we left Springfield and traveled to
Jeannette’s home in Jerome Idaho for the big event.

I was during that visit that another turning point in Muriel’s life began.  Muriel and I discussed a
future plan of leaving Springfield and moving to Idaho where she could be close to her sister.  We talked
with Jeannette and decided to start planning a move to Idaho in 2004 or early 2005.  What followed
were long conversations on the phone with Jeannette, making plans for the move.  We completed
renovation of our home in Springfield in early 2003.  Thinking that the process of selling our home
would be long and drawn out we placed it on the market.  Two days later we had an offer and in just
over a month we closed the sale.  We gathered our belongings and with the help of Jennifer and Kevin
made the move to Jerome on July 26, 2003, about a year earlier than we planned.  So here we are.

And so here you are Muriel, at the sixty mile marker on the road of life parked at a rest stop.  Now it’s
time to carve your initials on a big tree at the side of the road to make your mark and get back on the
highway of life.  So tomorrow it will be time to begin the journey to the next mile post.  No one really
knows what lies between this one and the next, but we can all be sure of one thing.  With the wishes and
support of your friends and family we know that you will begin that journey again with enthusiasm and
hope.   So with love and gratitude in my heart may I wish that you visit many more rest stops on your
long journey?   Happy birthday to you, my wonderful wife.

Your loving husband,

Bob    
My Gift to Muriel