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MAY 2021 FREE
Calling it a career
all-around athlete
Long-time LTPS operations manager retires after 26 years By BiLL SANserViNO
Senior Joelle “Joey” D’Angelo is a top performer on the LHS wrestling, lacrosse and soccer teams. To read more about her, turn to Page 10. (Photo by Rich Fisher.)
‘What is the best day of your life?’ Lawrence resident appears on ‘Jeopardy!’ By DANi SAKrAN AND BiLL SANserViNO
Lawrence Township resident Amy Rey dreamed almost her entire life of appearing on the game show Jeopardy! She finally got the opportunity, but then the COVID19 pandemic hit. Then Alex Trebek, the show’s long time host, died. Despite those setbacks, she
remains positive about her appearance and that attitude has helped her make the most out of her appearance. Rey appeared on the April 7 episode of the show, which was guest hosted by Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers—a longtime fan of the show. She finished in third place. Because she was appearing on the show during the pandemic, she wasn’t allowed to bring her family and there was no audience. Above all, the most heartbreaking thing was the death of Trebek, and the fact that she never got a chance to
meet him because her appearance was delayed from when it was originally scheduled. Trebek, who hosted the show for 37 seasons since its revival in 1984, lost his battle with pancreatic cancer last November. “Originally when I was supposed to be on last year, I would have met Alex,” she said “Obviously I was very disappointed—hear tbroken really—that Alex passed away, and I did not get a chance to meet him.” Her experience on the show was unlike that of other past contestants due to the See REy, Page 4
When Lana Mueller embarked on a career as a dental hygienist after graduating college, little did she realize the circuitous route her life would take. Now, at age 73, she is retiring from the Lawrence Public School District after having worked there for many decades. Her retirement is effective at the beginning of May. “Never did I dream I would live in New Jersey,” she said. “Now, we’ve been here the longest of anywhere we’ve ever lived.” Mueller has worked for the LTPS since 1995—most of the time as operations manager. In that role, she worked closely with the district’s superintendents and also served as its communications director. When she first went to work for the district it was a parttime position as a secretary to the instructional supervisors. “I was actually physically located in the assistant superintendent’s office, who at that time was Bruce McGraw, and I also assisted his secretary,” she said. In 2001, Mueller was selected to fill the position of assistant to the superintendent, a job which ultimately evolved into operations manager. The oldest of four children, Mueller was born in the Saint Louis area and was the only one of her siblings to go to college. Her father worked for a
lumber company for some 40 years, and her mother was a homemaker for most of that time. She attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene. She got her license after graduation and then worked as a dental hygienist for a number of years, before moving to Denver, Colorado, and meeting her husband, Jonathan. After the two married, the couple had their three children in Denver, where they lived for 14 years. Jonathan changed jobs and the family lived in southern California for seven years before moving to Lawrence Township in 1993 after another job change. Mueller’s children are now grown to adulthood. Two of them graduated from Lawrence High School, and the third graduated from a high school in California. The Muellers lived in Lawrence until last July, when they sold their house in anticipation of moving west after she retires to be close to her youngest daughter and her husband, who live in South Jordan, Utah. “I had always wanted to move back to Colorado when we retire, but Utah’s pretty similar, so that’s why we’re going to go there,” Mueller said. “We knew we would get out of New Jersey, but we thought we’d just go to Pennsylvania because of the high taxes in New Jersey.” Meanwhile, the LTPS Board of Education appointed Eshaya Draper to fill Mueller’s position at its April 21 meeting. He started on April 27. Prior to joining LTPS, Draper orchestrated aspects See MUELLER, Page 6
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