Sunday, February 04, 2007

COACH ROBERT MICKLER'S MOM DIES AT 107

Thought you might be interested in this obituary for the mother of former RHS football coach Robert Mickler.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/obituaries/stories/MYSA020307.06B.Obit_Mickler.192f52f.html


Obituary: Mickler, 107, was a descendant of Wurzbach family
Web Posted: 02/02/2007 10:22 PM CST
Carmina DaniniExpress-News
The daughter and granddaughter of Bexar County judges, niece of a U.S. congressman and granddaughter of a wholesale grocer who once owned the Alamo convent property, Emily Wurzbach Mickler's life could have filled a history book.
Until her death Wednesday at age 107, Mickler was a link to San Antonio's past.
One of the first women in San Antonio to drive a car — something she did until she was 90 — she recalled when Fredericksburg Road was a two-lane country road that could be traversed on a horse and buggy.
Her father, William Augustus Wurzbach, usually made the trip via Fredericksburg Road from the family home to his office downtown.
"I remember we had a beautiful, very fast little trotter that flew like the wind," she said in a 1987 interview. "She could make it from the pasture gate to papa's office in the Alamo National Bank in 45 minutes."
Emily Wurzbach Mickler
Born: Jan. 1, 1900, in San Antonio
Died: Jan. 31, 2007, in San Antonio
Survived by: A son, W. Calvin Mickler of San Antonio; eight grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren; she was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Wellington Mickler Sr., a son, Robert W. Mickler Jr., and daughter, Margaret 'Bebe' Kinder.
Services: Graveside service today at 2 p.m. at Mission Burial Park South at 1700 S.E. Military Drive.
Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Boysville Inc., P.O. Box 369, Converse, 78109, or to Samaritan Care Hospice, 4204 Gardendale, Ste. 210, San Antonio, 78229, or to a favorite charity.
William Wurzbach was Bexar County judge from 1931 to 1932. His father, Charles Louis Wurzbach, served three terms as county judge in the late 1800s and also was elected to the state Legislature.
Uncle Harry Wurzbach was the first Republican from Texas to be elected to more than two terms in the U.S. House.
Maternal grandfather Gustav Schmeltzer — one of the partners in Hugo, Schmeltzer and Heuermann, a wholesale grocer — had his business in the Alamo long barracks.
A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Mickler made her debut as an Order of the Alamo duchess in 1921.
Seven years earlier, she and her family made a frantic rush from Austria to England to board a ship for America as World War I convulsed Europe.
Married to Robert Mickler in 1925, they had three children.
Only one son, Calvin, survives.
Another son, Robert W. "Bob" Mickler Jr., who compiled an enviable record as a high school football coach, was killed along with his wife in a car accident near Saltillo, Mexico, in May 1992.
Her only daughter, Margaret "Bebe" Kinder, died a week later.
"All I ever wanted out of life was children," Emily Mickler said.
Calvin Mickler said his mother was blessed with a great sense of humor and the belief that it's better to give than to receive.
"She was a strong woman who never drank except for a beer with Mexican food every once in a while, exercised and for years went swimming at the San Antonio Country Club at 5:30 in the morning," he said.
"She drove herself from her childhood home to the country club until she was 90. She quit (driving) on her own," Calvin Mickler said. "It was the hardest thing she ever did because she hated losing her independence."