Bethel’s Obituary May 8, 2019 was a day of celebration for Bethel Vorintha Lindeman Muetzel. The daughter of Nellie Ann and Henry Lindeman, Bethel was born December 11, 1923 at home on the family farm ten miles south of Redwood Falls, Minnesota. Bethel spent her early years on the farm and was active in the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a country church built on land donated by her great-grandfather.
Bethel attended District 8, a one-room school in Rowena, Minnesota, the village where her father grew up, and graduated from Redwood Falls High School in 1941. Bethel then attended Western Union College in Le Mars, Iowa for two years. To support the war effort, Bethel moved to Long Beach, California to work in the blood bank at Seaside Hospital.
After World War II, she enrolled at the University of Minnesota and received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Medical Technology in 1946. After interning at General Hospital during the polio epidemic, Bethel worked for an internist in the downtown Medical Arts Building across from Dayton’s and lived in the Dunwoody Girl’s Home one block away. While attending a University of Minnesota football game, Bethel literally fell into the arms of a returning Marine and former Redwood Falls High School classmate, Glenn Muetzel.
They were married June 12, 1949 in the little country church near the family farm where son Steven was born in 1951. They moved to Harbor City, California where Deborah was born in 1953 and then to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Nadine was born in 1958. After a family tragedy in 1969, Dee and Dianna Lindeman, children of Bethel’s only sibling Norman, also became part of the Muetzel family, living with them during their high school and college years.
After raising children, teaching piano students and volunteering with Cub Scouts, Brownies, Girl Scouts, PTA and 4-H, Bethel went back to work, substituting in clinic laboratories before sharing a full-time job in Dr. Ogborn’s clinic for fifteen years. She then accepted the challenge of beginning a medical assistant program at Nettleton College. In 1986, after fifteen years and 367 students, Bethel retired but continued to be called “Mrs. Muetzel” by fondly remembered students for many years.
Bethel was an active member of First Baptist Church in Sioux Falls for 63 years. Her volunteer work included circle chair, children’s choir director, adult choir, chair of the Spiritual Life Committee, chair of the 105th anniversary celebration and kitchen volunteer whenever needed. Bethel and Glenn enjoyed visiting and helping on mission fields in Haiti, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Zaire, Hong Kong and Seoul and serving at Milk’s Camp in South Dakota.
Bethel and Glenn had the opportunity to travel to Egypt, Spain, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Bahamas and all 50 states and drove their RV to Texas to spend their winters for over 30 years. Through First Baptist Church and Sioux Falls College, Bethel and Glenn helped students from various countries adjust to life in the United States. Two young women from Eritrea, Adda Twolde and Sabba Mebrahtu, were two of the college students who spent many weekends and holidays with the Muetzel family.
The family also hosted an American Field Service foreign exchange student from Thailand, Chert Nampon, who spent a year with them and became part of the family, as did Earlyn Koizumi, a longtime friend. Grateful for having shared Bethel’s life are her son, Steven Muetzel, San Diego; her daughter Debby (James Abbott) Vander Woude, Sioux Falls; her son-in-law Mike (Kathy) Sierakowski, Stillwater, MN; her grandchildren, Sarah (Michael Zoch) Vander Woude, Daniel and Matthew Vander Woude, Emily and David Sierakowski; her great-grandson, John Woods Zoch; and her nieces, Dee (Kirk) Lindeman-Smith and Dianna (Ron) Kragerud. Bethel is preceded in death by her husband, H. Glenn in 2013, her parents, her brother, her daughter Nadine Sierakowski and her son-in-law Dr. John Vander Woude.
Visitation will take place at Heritage Funeral Home from 4:30-6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 27. Bethel’s funeral will be at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at First Baptist Church with a luncheon to follow and private family burial at Woodlawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions in loving memory of Bethel can be made to First Baptist Church, Habitat for Humanity or The Banquet.
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