Frances Muller-Schroer

Frances L. deDufour Muller-Schroer passed away on April 10, 2023. She is survived by husband Chuck Schroer, son John Muller and his wife Elizabeth Cole, and daughter Judith Muller and her husband Sean Tulley.

Fran was born in the Bronx, New York to Arthur and Mary deDufour, and grew up with her six siblings: Mary, Arthur, Kathryn, William, Jeanne, and Ruth.

Fran attended P.S. 97, Sacred Heart Catholic School, and graduated from Walton High School in the Bronx. She started studying at Hunter College, but left to help financially support her family. She worked for AT&T as a customer Representative and cashier and later at Kelly Girl (later renamed All American Girl Employment Agency) as a Customer Management Representative, handling client relationships with large firms like General Motors.

Fran met her first husband, John A. Muller, ‘down the shore’ in Spring Lake, NJ. John was a licensed Professional Engineer and eventually became a partner at Severud Associates, a prestigious international structural engineering firm headquartered in New York City.  They married in 1966 and for a short while lived in an apartment within sight of the Yankee Stadium. No longer working and with a spirit to love and serve children, she volunteered at the New York Foundling Home.

After moving to Ridgewood in 1969, Fran volunteered as an aide at the Ridgewood Public Library and also Our Lady of Mount Carmel, where she taught catechism. Fran and John raised two children, John Andrew and Judith, in a warm and caring household. Both graduated from Ridgewood High School and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI); John as a biomedical engineer and project manager, and Judith as an aeronautical engineer and, after graduating from the US Naval Postgraduate School, a helicopter test pilot in the USN.

A member of a Ridgewood Prayer Group for 40 years, whose members included Jean Boyle, Mary Montegari, Trish McCory and Drew Rodney. Their love, help, and prayers when her husband John passed away in July 2002 and during Fran’s recent illness are a beacon of light. May others follow their example. Like most when losing a loving husband, Fran was heartbroken and turned to a bereavement group and tried to stay active and involved with her friends and sisters.

One day her phone rang and the person calling described himself as a classmate of a John Muller in both Newtown H.S. Queens, NY and Brooklyn Polytechnic College. He hadn’t seen John in 50 years and was trying to reconnect in order to write a class history of their Newtown Techies. Fran acknowledged he had the right John Muller, but John had passed away. Since John had worked at only one firm for 44 years, Fran agreed to write his bio. At the end of the conversation Chuck admitted that his wife had passed away in December 2002 just months after her John. This started the exchange of snail mail between the two, then daily e-mails and finally a lunch date on May 10, 2004. God’s hand began the magic which resulted in the two being married in Chuck’s current hometown, Columbia, MD at St John the Evangelist RCC on Sept 9, 2006. The next almost 17 years provided love, comfort and a ton of fun for both! One highlight of their life was a “Spiritual Journey” to France organized by St John, where Fran worshiped at many celebrated Cathedrals and visited homes and memorials to many venerated Saints and came back with a renewed sense of faith. May God bless this GREAT LADY. Amen.

Visiting Monday 4/17 from 6-8 PM at the Feeney Funeral Home, Ridgewood. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday 4/18 at 10:00 AM at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel RC Church, Ridgewood. Interment to follow at George Washington Memorial Park, Paramus. Repast to be held at the Ramsey Country Club after interment.

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to either the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or the Alzheimers Association.

The Funeral Mass will be live streamed at olmcridgewood.com