DATE: Friday, June 13, 1997                 TAG: 9706120200

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 04   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   81 lines

E-MAIL COURTSHIP LEADS TO A SPRING WEDDING MARRIAGE MEANS RETIREMENT FOR CENTERVILLE TEACHER.

For students, June is the time to think about the ``ion'' words: promotion, graduation and vacation. But for one Virginia Beach teacher, the end of this school year marks the beginning of a lot of ``re'' words.

``There are a whole lot of re's in my life right now,'' said Linda McDonnell Mueller, a 25-year veteran of the city school system. ``That's remarriage, retirement, relocation and rebirth.''

The Centerville Elementary School reading teacher leaves later this month to join her new husband, Hans Mueller, in Texas.

The two met and courted by e-mail.

When they tell their story, the Muellers always make one thing perfectly clear. They didn't meet in some online chat room where cybernuts gather to add their own two cents worth to whatever topic is at hand. They were properly introduced.

A couple of years ago Harold Winer, a Kings Grant Landing neighbor of McDonnell's, insisted that she should meet his friend, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who lived in the East Texas hill country. McDonnell, who was divorced from her first husband nine years ago, was reluctant.

Winer persisted. His friend had just gone through a difficult divorce, he explained. Perhaps McDonnell could help him. When Winer went to visit Mueller in July 1995 he kept in touch with McDonnell by e-mail. At the end of one of his messages, Mueller added a brief note. McDonnell, who was at home recuperating from foot surgery, responded in an equally brief fashion.

The two had finally met and the flow of e-mail messages had begun. Slowly and formally at first, then more frequently and less formally as time went by. ``We didn't exchange any personal information at all for the first month or so, then we started telling a little about ourselves and our families. Hard copies of their messages fill two large file boxes, even though some important ones are missing. ``I don't have copies of the earliest ones, I hadn't figured out how to print them out at that time,'' McDonnell said.

In October that year Mueller came to visit Winer. And McDonnell.

For weeks they had been signing their messages with the electronic version of a smiley face - :-). McDonnell went to the airport with Winer. She was carrying a smiley face balloon.

Although it would be a long time before the words were spoken, both agree it was love at first sight. McDonnell showed him her favorite Virginia Beach sites: Sandbridge, Seashore State Park, the A.R.E. and the Duck In. They discovered that they had many things in common. Among them were their love of nature, belief in angels and a strong German heritage. McDonnell's father had come to this country from Germany after World War I when he was 15 and spoke no English.

Mueller, who was also born in Germany, emigrated to the United States after World War II. He, too, was 15 and spoke no English. Three years later he graduated valedictorian of his high school class and won a full scholarship to Penn State where he received his engineering degree and was commissioned into the Army.

McDonnell was impressed by his dignity and old world courtliness. He was impressed by McDonnell's love of life. Later he told her that on his return trip to Texas he said to himself, ``I can't let this woman get away.'' Mueller had met McDonnell's two sons when he visited Virginia Beach. She went to Texas at Christmas to meet his four sons and their families.

Still, McDonnell was not sure that she was willing to make another attempt at marriage. The e-mail continued. Last summer she decided to spend most of her vacation in Texas, preparing to make up her mind one way or the other.

By the end of the summer, the two were engaged. The e-mail continued. Their April wedding near Mueller' home was a warm family affair. All six of their sons participated and McDonnell's mother made the long trip from Connecticut for the ceremony. Then McDonnell returned to finish the school year, pack her belongings and prepare for retirement. Mueller will be here later this month to meet friends and help with the move.

McDonnell says she'll miss Virginia Beach, especially the children and staff at Centerville Elementary. And they will miss her, they say. When she came back after her marriage she wasn't sure which name to use. ``They had known me as Ms. McDonnell for so long that I wasn't sure I should change it.''

The children solved the problem themselves, just as they have found solutions to all those puzzling words their teacher has expected them to be able to sound out. They renamed her Mrs. McMueller. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Centerville Elementary teacher Linda McDonnell Mueller and her

husband, Hans Mueller.

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