Yvonne Mull

Yvonne Mull passed away on Friday, October 27, 2023. She was born on November 14, 1937 in Vacaville, California to Melda Gelhaus Dubois and Pierre Dubois. She is survived by her children, Christina Beckmann of Mill Valley, California and David Mull of Salt Lake City, Utah, as well as three grandchildren: Jack Beckmann, Atigun Mull, and Parker Mull. She is preceded in death by her husband, Charles Gilbert (“Gil”) Mull and her brother Pierre (“Pete”) Dubois.

Yvonne was raised in Vallejo, California and in the years following the Great Depression, life for the family was not easy. Her father was skilled in construction and often worked out of state for extended periods, leaving her mother to care for Yvonne and her brother Pierre. She often reminisced about the challenges of these formative years, with stories of the church helping her family with food, and her own mother having to pawn her wedding ring in order to have enough money for food.

Yvonne attended nursing school and although she struggled initially, with grit and perseverance, she graduated and eventually accepted a position in Sitka, Alaska, which brought her routinely into remote Alaskan villages to provide medical assistance to people living there. She loved Alaska and took advantage of all it had to offer. She mushed the local postmaster’s mail delivery dogsled in Bethel, Alaska. She learned to fly small planes. She learned to downhill ski, and it was while skiing that she met the man who would become her husband, Gil Mull. She built a life with Gil, raising her children Christina and David in Anchorage.

As a Registered Nurse Yvonne enjoyed professional success. She was very proud of her rise to the position of Director of Nursing at the Alaska Surgery Center. Yvonne was hard-working, energetic, and enterprising in both her personal and professional lives. With Gil gone for long stretches of each summer doing geological field work in the remote Brooks Range of Alaska, she juggled her two children, three husky dogs, and her work, still finding time for extra activities. She loved salmon fishing at Silver Salmon Creek on Lake Clark’s Cook Inlet coast and halibut fishing, routinely catching the biggest fish on the charters out of Homer. She published two well-received articles in the Journal of American Operating Room Nurses (AORN). She befriended and mentored many of her fellow nurses, forging meaningful relationships that she cared deeply about even in her final days.

Yvonne had a colorful personality. She enjoyed widely varied activities such as salmon fishing, gardening, polka dancing, and European travel. She was unabashed about sharing her opinions on a wide range of subjects. She was deeply loyal to her close friends, even when she disagreed with them. She proudly reveled in her children’s exploits to friends, acquaintances, and strangers alike.

She was the sole founder and organizer of a successful “Ladies Midweek Ski Clinic” at Alyeska Resort in Alaska. She was also a key member of an investment club in Anchorage, which she continued to be involved in even after she retired to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Yvonne also continued sharing her nursing experience long after she formally retired. She was hired to supervise nursing exams in New Mexico into her early 80s, a job she loved dearly and continued doing until the Covid-19 epidemic and her health began to decline.

Yvonne was deeply committed to her Catholic faith. After she and Gil moved to Santa Fe in 2003, she became very active at the Cathedral and developed many close relationships through her participation in the Treasures of Wisdom and especially loved spending time with Rev. Rob Yaksich and Rev. Ray Schultz.  In her final years, she took special joy in her physical therapy sessions with trainers who became special friends, sharing friendship and inspiration along with fitness.

A Catholic Vigil will begin at 9:30am followed by Mass at 10:00am on Thursday, November 16 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe. Following the Mass family and friends will gather for a reception at Luminaria Restaurant at Inn and Spa at Loretto. The She will be interred with her husband’s ashes near her mother in a separate ceremony at All Souls Cemetery in Vallejo, California on November 21 at 11:30am.