Obituary of Florence Mildred Walker Muller)

Florence was born in Stockton, California on May 19, 1930 to a farming family: parents, Otto and Laura Muller; brother, William Muller; sister, Helen Wiggington; and surviving sister, Barbara Guidice-Gates. She drove a hay-rake behind a team of horses on the farm as a teenager to earn the money to buy her first horse, a mare named Lottie. She had a love of horses and dogs all her life.Florence married a rather dashing former Navy man, Daniel A. Madrid, in 1948, and they were married until his early death in 1972. They had two children, Daniel W. Madrid and Catherine E. Madrid-Garibaldi, who survive Florence; as well as Daniel's wife, Irma Bahr-Madrid, their five children, Kristofer, Sara, Erik, Andrejs and Leon; and Catherine's daughter, Gabriela.Florence and Dan moved from Stockton to Walla-Walla, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; Lacy, Washington; then back to Stockton; on to Huntington, New York; then Monroe, New York, and lived there until Dan passed away. She became an expert at packing up her family and moving them across country. Florence took pride in helping the community as a foster parent, a member of the "Home Makers Club", and helping with childcare for her working neighbors. She came to love travel, and later traveled through Europe with her daughter and later her niece, Debbie Guidice-Ferrari, and again with her sisters and uncle. Florence had done secretarial work before marriage and took it up again while living in New York and when she returned to Stockton after Dan's death.She married again, briefly, to Ray Barber of Stockton, also deceased; and once more to Lowell Walker of Stockton in 1986. They �retired' to a working cattle ranch in Petrolia, California, and lived there until Lowell's passing in 2001.Florence was an accomplished horsewoman, winning buckles and trophies in competitive trail rides. She loved to cook, loved her animals, and stayed strong in her Lutheran faith all her life.