Alberta Shirley Mueller Jacobs, 93, Beloved Mother and Grandmother
Alberta Shirley Mueller Jacobs passed away on Saturday, March 9, 2024, at Wesley Enhanced Living in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She was 93.
She was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, on May 7, 1930, to Murrel Kirkman Mueller Niffenegger and Albert Henry Mueller, who died prior to her birth. She moved with her mother and sister, Leila, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1933, where she grew up. She was a member of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, graduated from Franklin High School and attended the University of Iowa and Boston University, graduating in 1952.
Alberta married David Lloyd Edward Jacobs on August 10, 1951. They knew each other in high school, but their romance began when David offered to drive her home from orchestra rehearsals at the University of Iowa. She played the violin in the university orchestra, but focused on the viola in her later years. They have five children, Christine Newman-Jacobs (Paul Newman-Jacobs), Mark Jacobs (Barbara Stewart), Timothy Jacobs (Michele DeRosa), Peter Jacobs (Carol Redfern) and Claudia Kranz (Paul Kranz), raising them in Schenectady, New York, and Westfield, New Jersey, with a three year interlude in Sicily and London, England. After their children were grown, Alberta and David lived in Brussels, Belgium, for two years and in Houston, Texas, retiring to Doylestown, Pa., in 1991. Alberta and her husband of 66 years are blessed with 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
During their married life, Alberta and David attended United Methodist churches wherever they lived. She always had a passion for outreach ministries focused on racial understanding, peace and addressing issues around poverty. Her interest in people and their cultures was so important to Alberta and her husband that they took extended trips to Europe with all 13 of their grandchildren so that their grandchildren would understand more fully the larger world we live in.
Alberta began knitting beautiful, complicated sweaters as a high school student and never stopped knitting. She knit afghans and sweaters for all of her children and grandchildren with patterns and colors uniquely and personally chosen. Alberta also knit intricate Christmas stockings, using patterns from her mother, for each person as they joined the family, whether through birth or marriage. Alberta enjoyed sewing, often making matching outfits for mother and daughter, and teaching the girls to sew. While living in Belgium, Alberta learned to make Belgian lace, developing friendships with other lace-makers and making more than 25 beautiful examples of lace that now adorn her family’s homes. She loved music, her church connections, and volunteer positions in the community.
Alberta was the ultimate planner. She loved planning family gatherings for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, with all the trimmings: Easter egg hunts in the backyard for the grandchildren; Christmas gifts for all family members purchased on the latest trip taken with her husband, David; favorite apple pie recipes or her famous chocolate cake for birthdays. She loved traveling the world, learning about other cultures and meeting interesting people who often became fast friends.
Alberta is survived by her sister-in law, Barbara Diane Jacobs of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; her five children; their spouses; her 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband, David L. E. Jacobs, and her sister, Leila Elizabeth Mueller Senst.
A memorial service will be held at the First United Methodist Church, 1 East Broad Street, Westfield, N.J. 07090, on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 3 p.m., followed by interment in the church’s Memorial Garden.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to the Lehman Memorial United Methodist Church, 300 South York Road, Hatboro, Pa. 19040; the First United Methodist Church, 1 East Broad Street, Westfield, N.J. 07090; or the Heifer Project, 1 World Avenue, P.O. Box 727, Little Rock, AR 72203; or www.heiferfoundation.org.
Send condolences to www.varcoethomasfuneralhome.com.
April 11, 2024
